Out of the Ordinary: The Awaiting Halls
by GadgetCid
Summary: In America, Coraline R. McCoy could never become a witch because of her condition. Upon being accepted into Hogwarts however, she finds hope within the walls for a brighter future. If she can only make it through her first year! Set after DH. BETA WANTED!
1. The Book, The Legend and the Doctor

**Out of the Ordinary**

**The Awaiting Halls**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**The Book, the Legend, and the Doctor**

* * *

**C**oraline R. McCoy got the letter she thought she'd never receive.

It was a gloomy Sunday morning near the outskirts of London England, Coraline opened one eye as she lay on her side sleeping on the air mattress that was placed in a corner of the room, while boxes occupied the remaining space that the small room provided.

Yawning and stretching was her way of greeting the second day in a new country. Her father, Alvin McCoy, had a job offer at the nearby hospital a little over a month ago. The pay was good and the apartment was closer and more affordable than the house they previously lived in. Coraline personally thought that God was watching over her and her father because at the time of the offer, Coraline and her father were moving to a smaller, cheaper, apartment in a somewhat bad part of town. Under the pay rate that her father received in that hospital in America, he couldn't afford the house any more.

She was still getting use to the idea that she was living in an apartment, or a "flat" as she heard it called by the locals. Some of the kids back at school lived in apartments but she never felt comfortable going over to their "house" to play because of the people that could just stick their nose out and watch your every move, like some sort of spy.

Coraline rose off of the air mattress that her father set up for her and walked over to the vanity that faced her. Her brownish-reddish hair was curly and untamable, it wasn't like a sea of curls, it was more like a wave and waves go by their own rules. It would get in her way when she would be writing her homework and solving Sudoku puzzles, so she finally decided to put it all up in a hat she got for Christmas one day. Her father resented buying that hat for her ever since, because now, she hated going anywhere without it; even school.

She put the gray hat on her head, tucked all her hair into it and yawned before walking out of her room in her PJs. She walked across the hall and into the kitchen where her father was reading the paper at the round table, drinking his coffee, wearing his green bath robe.

Coraline yawned again as Alvin took notice. "Good Morning, sunshine." He said as his daughter walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Good night, Dad" she mumbled as she started walking back towards her room.

"You'll have to get use to the time changes sooner or later. Might as well be today, you start school in less than a month." He said with the tone in his voice that made her turn back towards the refrigerator to look for some breakfast.

She looked at the vacancy in the refrigerator, save for a milk jug that had about an inch left in it and some baking soda near the back. "Dad, there's nothing here."

"I was actually thinking about taking you out for breakfast." Mr. McCoy put down his paper and coffee mug. Coraline looked at her father, His orange colored mustache freckled with coffee drops, and his almost-bald head seemed to match the smile and the rough voice of her Dad.

"We're in a new country, you and your Mom were born here, and I thought I'd take you to the place where I met her and to the Café' we went to afterwards. Kind of a symbolic first meal out thing." He walked over to her as he explained.

"Dad" she began to argue "We've still got a lot to unpack, I've got to find my clothes still-"

"Well until my next pay check, I can't afford to go to the store." He announced to her. "Whichever store that is anyway."

"Dad…" Coraline who frowned and grimace to her Dad, whispered "I'm still sore."

"Oh, Coraline." He rolled his blue eyes. "If you eat more, I'm sure you'll feel better. We have to go and see the neiborhood anyway. I've got to find out which school you're going to attend and where the grocery store is and I thought we'd go into the city and see if we could go by Baker Street. There's a Sherlock Holmes museum there-"

"Ok, I'll go." Coraline finally gave in. Her Dad was the kind of person that she would trust with her life. While she was uptight, jumpy and tended to panic, her Dad was laied back and took things as they came. He always had a plan and she wasn't the only person who admired him for this quality.

After all, her Mother married him.

"But" she pointed a pale finger at her dad, "we've got to unpack our clothes first ok?"

Her father just rolled his eyes and said "Fine." Coraline smiled and hugged her Dad before jumping out of the kitchen and back into her room.

Coraline quickly began to spot the boxes where she had put an "_C-C_" mark that signaled her clothes. And as she began to work, her mind wandered and focused on her own self being. Analyzing herself: as if she was a character, a normal part of a routine for her. Usually the start of making a new character for a new story she was cooking up:

Coraline was always a girl who liked things to be orderly and planed ahead of time. Her room was always clean and she got her chores done right the first time when she was asked. Her Mom had done her best to get that automatic response built in when she was still alive and beyond her death, Coraline still upheld the house rules and the cleaning.

For her, cleaning was an escape. The autopilot that made Coraline's body move, however sore it was, gave her mind time to fantasize and think about different things. Weather it was a new idea for a story or just about what to do next; a technique developed over years of loneliness and a remedy for sadness, for Coraline had always been an odd girl. She didn't enjoy playing with the other kids, but more being by herself. There was just something about the way her mind worked, something that made her…SMARTER or more aware of things that made kids avoid her; but it wasn't until the kids started to avoid her that she noticed. She came home crying that night to her Mom.

Her Mom had set her on her lap and held her until she calmed down. Coraline still remembered her mother's voice and how she hummed a little un-nameable tune that soothed her. Her Mother had said "Everyone has a different way of looking at things; it's called a "Perspective". You are very unique, Coraline. You see things and understand things that other kids can't and so they don't really know what to say or how to act around you. Just wait until they get older, then they'll start getting it and then you'll start making friends. "

So until then, Coraline took to ether wandering around the playground, making up her own stories and living in her imagination or into the library. The librarian, Mr. Nall, was a nice man who first showed her what books could do for her. Not the Dr. Seuss books that she was use to, the REAL ones. With chapters that were sometimes, more then she could count.

Of course there were books that she didn't like and didn't bother reading. Like stories with Mary Sues in them, as she learned to call them, or ones where little animals talked. Charlotte's Web was ok, it's just she didn't really like it that much. But while that helped her mind, it also became a barrier that put her away from the world around her; she didn't want to be around other people or in crowds. Her books were her world and the harder they were to read; the more annoyed she'd get at people.

To her own father's surprise, in 4th grade, she had pulled a book from her Dad's collection and had taken a liking to the character in the book, seeing as they were similar in many ways. She especially took note of the advice Sherlock gave to Watson in "The Adventure of the Empty House", when he referred to the Late Mary Watson "_Work is the best antidote to sorrow_."

At the time she read that line however, it was just the thing she needed to cope with the harsh reality of losing her Mother. About 3 years after Coraline came home crying, there was a horrific accident that she still had yet to hear about. All that she remembered was her father coming home with his scrubs still on with the face that could have been mistaken for a corpse, to tell her the news.

That wasn't the first bad thing to happen that week though. Coraline had been bed ridden since an accident herself and really needed her Mom to be there for her.

And since then, she never really stopped working in her own little world she developed to make any connection with the outside world, save for her Dad. To her, he was the only person she could really depend on.

Ahead of her class mates in every way, but when something began to annoy her she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. When something bothered her or when she had a project to do, she wouldn't eat, sleep or take a break until it was completed at 110% effort.

When she would start looking thin, her Dad would pop his head into her room, flick the lights off and say "Sherlock, this is your doctor speaking, get something to eat."

Kind of funny that while he had to make his daughter eat, he himself had a thing about skipping meals.

"_That's where I get it from._" Coraline thought to herself as she pulled out the first box of 2. After opening and emptying the contents she dressed herself in what she could find, blue jeans and a dark brown tee-shirt with a feint pirate symbol on it; the skull and crossbones. Most likely from the Disney store at the time "Pirates of the Carrabin" was first coming out.

The hand me downs didn't bother her, they were loose and comfy: it was shopping for new clothes that did.

Coraline had pulled out the second box and had just begun to open it when she began to hear a tapping sound.

She paused and looked around to see if she dropped something. As she did, the sound of the tapping continued. Coraline, figuring out that the sound wasn't coming from her, thought for a moment. This sound was familiar, when her Mom was alive, she heard this every day. What was it again? She didn't have to think long though as she spotted the source of the sound with gaping amazement.

An OWL with a letter in its beak was tapping on a round window that was placed facing north of the room; wanting in.

Coraline dropped the PJ's she was holding onto the floor. She stuck herself out of the door way and leaned into the hall as much as she could, holding on to the door frame for support. "DAD! DAD, COME HERE QUICK!" she shouted to her Dad that was still in the kitchen. A moment later, her Dad appeared outside her door, looking down at his daughter. "What's wrong?" he asked before she stepped to the side and showed him in. As he stepped in the tapping increased in pace and her father's gaze fell on the window.

"Does it have the wrong address?" She asked, thinking that there wasn't anyone qualified to receive the letter short of her supposedly dead grandparents on her Mom's side.

Her father walked over to the glass and looked at window for a way to open it, when he found none he yelled loud enough for the owl to hear beyond the glass "There's a way in through the Kitchen!" he pointed in the direction of the kitchen and with that the gray and black spotted owl turned and flew in said-direction. Mr. McCoy turned out of the room and Coraline followed, speaking to her father.

"Dad, what's it for?" She asked as the owl seemed to float through the open window that was placed just over the sink and onto the wooden table where the coffee mug still rested. It promptly opened its beak, thus dropping the parchment envelope onto the table and then, as quickly as it came, flew out the window and into the damp, gray London morning. The only evidence that it was there at all was the letter and a few scratches on the wood made from its talons.

Mr. McCoy walked over to the letter in 3 big strides. He picked up the envelope and looked at the address for a moment before grinning so big all his teeth could be seen. He handed the envelope over to Coraline, who didn't take it at first, but upon seeing the address took it from his hand saying "No way."

Coraline's whole body trembled, her heart seemed to flutter and she began to breathe shakily as she read the address on the parchment envelope, written in emerald green ink:

**_Miss C. McCoy_**

**_Second Bedroom_**

**_Floor 2, App 221_**

**_Darwin Court:_**

**_London_**

Coraline slowly turned over the envelope as she made her way to a chair placed at the table and sat down. Trembling, she reached a paper white trembling hand into the envelope and pulled out 3 folded pieces of parchment. Not white paper, or lined paper but PARCHMENT. She took the innermost one and set the other 2 off on the table. Her father hung over her shoulder baring his grin of happiness and pride as Coraline flipped open the letter and read aloud.

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL**_

_**Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class)**_

"_Dear Miss McCoy,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Filius Flitwick_

_Deputy Headmaster_"

Coraline had choked slightly on the part when it said she had been accepted. She felt tears come into her eyes after she finished, feeling her Dad pat his rough hand on her shoulder. Her father's words fell flat as she collected her own thoughts; he picked up the other two letters as she kept going over the facts again in her mind. Her father kept going on not noticing that she wasn't listening to him.

She felt…terrible…

She finally snapped and stood up quickly, biting her lip and holding back tears of sadness and anger. Mr. McCoy stopped talking and looked at his only daughter with such emotion and frustration.

"Dad," she managed to push out of her mouth without going into sobs. "You know I can't go. You might as well just burn the thing and forget all about it." She began to cry a little more as each breath she took made the weight in her chest increase. "I just moved here…They probably don't know that I'm a…"

No matter how many years she had lived with it, no matter how many hours she kept telling herself in her head, she still couldn't say "_I'm a werewolf_." out loud.

"Not after all the paperwork I had to sign in order to move from America. Maybe" her Dad interrupted her self-pity "You should let me read this additional letter."

Coraline's ears seemed to perk up as her Dad unfolded the outer most letter of the 3 and read aloud.

_"Dear Miss McCoy,_

_We are aware of your condition and have made special arrangements that will allow you to attend Hogwarts. Tomorrow at 10:00, Professor McGonagall shall come to discuss arrangements and procedures to insure safety and secrecy during such times._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Filius Flitwick_

_Deputy Headmaster"_

Coraline let it all sink in as her father finished reading the attachment.

"_Special arrangements that will allow you to attend Hogwarts." _She thought over and over in her mind. The reality began to sink in; the weight in her chest had turned into helium and like a balloon, began to rise high above London. She jumped up and smiled at her Dad as he smiled back, both of the McCoy's laughed so hard, not a single word needed to be uttered to describe what they were so happy about.

_**She was going to Hogwarts!**_


	2. She Who Follows

**Chapter 2**

**She Who Follows**

* * *

"**C**oraline!" Mr. McCoy yelled from the hallway, dressed in his neatest casual-looking outfit that he could dig up from the cardboard boxes. "Hurry up she'll be here any minute!"

It was about 9:58 A.M (According to her Dad's watch) and Coraline was still trying to wake up from staying up until three in the morning. She brushed her teeth furiously, trying to make her morning breath go away with the minty toothpaste. She didn't want her bad breath to be the first thing the principle-er-Headmistress to come in contact with. To her, first impressions were very important; especially when people are taking time and effort to make sure you can go to school.

Coraline spit into the stone sink and yelled out into the hallway "It's not my fault I've got bad breath!" Her Dad opened the door to the bathroom and handed a stick of gum to her. "Chew on this then." He grabbed her by the arm and nearly pulled her into the kitchen to look at her. "Is that really the best you can do, Coraline?"

She was never the type to wear anything girl-ish. No skirts, dresses, bows, ect. And formal wear was no exception; she wore dark blue pants, that her aunt Lucy had back in the 80s, they weren't made of jean material, they almost felt like pajama bottoms and they flowed the same way too. They weren't too loose but they weren't too tight.

Her shoes were skater shoes for boys that she had seen the previous year when her Dad and she went school shopping for clothes, they were the most interesting pair of shoes she had ever seen, and the colors were dark green and a light blue. It almost looked like the shoe was sewn together. It was perfect for her and she couldn't ask for a better pair. Her shirt was a regular dark blue shirt that was covered by a jean jacket with a golden locket on the outside.

"I'm not going to wear a skirt, Dad." Coraline protested; about to say the same thing about her father, wearing jeans and a jean jacket over a plain white shirt with tennis shoes. Before he could open his mouth his watch began to go off, and as if someone was waiting for it there was a loud CRACK, a noise that the McCoy's had not heard for four years.

They both turned around to the source of the sound, and before them stood a very stern looking woman with square glasses placed upon the brim of her small nose. Her graying black hair was tied into a tight bun and she was wearing an emerald green cloak. Coraline spotted in her right hand, before placing it beneath the cloak, was a thin wooden object that could be nothing short of a wand.

The woman in the cloak turned to Coraline's father and held out her hand. "Alvin McCoy, I am Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts." Coraline's father smiled and shook her hand, exchanging "hellos" before she turned to Coraline. Coraline eye's met her's, and she noticed of how they almost looked like a cat's eyes and that the woman didn't seem to blink that much.

"And this must be Coraline; it's nice to meet you, dear." Coraline shook her hand and drew a blank on what to say before finally coming up with "Likewise".

She felt like banging her head against the stone counter. "_LIKEWISE? LIKEWISE?!?! THAT'S ALL YOU COULD SAY? Why couldn't you have said "It's a privilege to meet me Professor-YOU! Meet YOU Professor!_" _AGGG!_" Coraline mentally slapped herself but she found the Headmistress smiling at her and that made Coraline feel warm despite the chilly Monday morning.

"Can I offer you some coffee, Professor?" her father started to walk towards the coffee machine on the counter near the window. "Oh, no thank you Mr. McCoy." The woman pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down. After Coraline sat at the other end of the table, she felt the woman's cat-like eyes study her intensely. She almost felt nervous being in the same room with her under her gaze, trying to determine almost if she was friend or foe. Coraline took to examining the scratches on the table until her father sat down next to her on her left with his mug of strong smelling black-silk coffee.

"So" her father turned to Professor McGonagall "I don't know if you know, but we just moved into the country from America. We're actually surprised that she's been accepted, I mean, Adrian and I knew she was a witch since…" he leaned back in his chair slightly trying to think back. "Pretty much since the day she was born. But after the accident and…after Adrian died, we got a letter from the American Witchcraft school in Washington saying that-"He took out a piece of paper from his coat pocket and unfolded it to read it aloud.

"It would be impossible to maintain the conditions that are required for proper education." He recited before un-carefully crumpling the note back up into a wad of paper and sticking the ball back into his pocket.

"The American School system has a bit of a different idea of how they teach." Professor McGonagall replied. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say it but, they are a bit prejudice against any kind of student who needs special commendations. I myself had a particularly bad encounter with the Headmaster of Salem School of Witchcraft about a year ago. In all my years of teaching I have never met an American Headmaster that I have had the pleasure of meeting, no offence Mr. McCoy."

"None taken." Coraline's father replied. "My wife often said to me that while the public Muggle schools were practically made for helping kids with problems, the Wizarding world in America practically lacks the capacity to adjust and adapt for one kid. They say it "Takes up their time" and they don't want to deal with it. Typical Americans I guess…"

"Dad" Coraline interrupted as he raised his mug to his lips "We're American."

"We're not your typical American family though." He responded after gulping down the coffee. Coraline nodded and agreed to that.

"I was partially relieved that they wouldn't let her in." He continued. Coraline looked at her Dad with astonishment. She had the understanding that he was so angry at them when she received the letter that he actually went to lengths to sue them. But without a way into the Ministry he couldn't even make a complaint.

"You didn't want me to go?" She asked.

Her Dad looked at her with an astonished face. "No, I didn't say that." He replied "What I mean is that I had heard about what American Witches and Wizards were like and even met some when my wife was alive and quite frankly I found them to be rude, inhospitable and self-centered. Most of your manners come from learning them at home and at school from your teachers. I didn't want Coraline messing in with that crowd."

Coraline nodded again. Before her Mom died and before the bite, she did remember meeting some of her Mom's friends and their kids during cook outs. She found them to be a little spoiled and rude for their age and she didn't like that quality that much.

"After her Mother passed away, I couldn't even figure out how to find another person to make the potion for her and since I'm a "Muggle" I couldn't brew it on my own so…" His voice trailed off into an unspoken sadness as Coraline remembered the day he set up the shed in the back yard after taking down the swing set she sat upon so often.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that we can brew the potion for her at school." The professor said with a soft smile. Coraline's mood turned around when her ears picked this news up as well as her father. Her missing canine tooth could be shown with her grin. "The Wolfbane potion" Professor McGonagall explained "doesn't stop the transformation but it helps the human keep his mind when he transforms. So they can curl up somewhere and wait for dawn to break. The potion needs to be taken the week preceding the full moon however, many people have forgotten to take it on one day or another and unfortunate things have happened."

Coraline gulped.

"Speaking of which, what were you planning on doing for the August full moon?"

She almost jumped in her spot. The full moon had already passed for July just a week ago. In fact her father planed for her to transform the day before they moved to England in order to have some time to find a safe place. It didn't make the flight over any easier.

"I've planned to rent a small place somewhere in the country where she can go once a month. Away from people." He said rather softly. Coraline's head drooped and her back slumped. She readjusted her hat placed on her head so that her hair fell out from it. She twirled her fingers in the pony tail as she looked out the kitchen window at the rainy London morning. She hated talking about her next transformation. She scratched her left arm a little, where she had bit herself the previous full moon. It still itched but if she kept scratching it would scar.

"Well, that's well planned." The Headmistress said. "Do you know where Diagon Alley is?"

Her father closed his eyes, straining his memory to try and remember. "My wife and I went there very briefly." He said finally "I think a war started and we left for America when I finished College at Oxford?"

McGonagall nodded. "Adrian was a smart girl; a bit of a hot head but smart." She said "She had to be, she was in Ravenclaw. She knew what to stay out of and war was just that thing."

"Yeah." Coraline's father nodded.

"Ravenclaw?" she whispered, turning away from the window and looked at the pair.

"Mr. McCoy," The Professor drew her father's attention "I have one last question." The Headmistress stood up and Coraline's father followed in the action. "May I ask why you decided to move to England? Was it because you wanted Coraline to attend Hogwarts?"

"Well" Coraline's father turned to her again. "We moved here because of a job opportunity at the local hospital. Better pay here and the rent for this place is a lot more affordable. But I didn't stop to think that it could also be beneficial to Coraline. That completely slipped my mind until yesterday, I remember Adrian saying something about Hogwarts accepting a werewolf once but I thought I had just miss heard."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "We did have a child attend the school with…similar circumstances." Coraline noticed the way she looked at her. The sad expression of a friend dearly missed. "But so far, that has been the only case in Hogwarts history."

Coraline's jaw dropped open slightly. "You mean that in the one-thousand years that Hogwarts has been around, I'm only going to be the second werewolf to attend?"

"Actually" her father leaned in "You're going to be the second werewolf to study magic in the entire history of the Wizarding world."

Her jaw dropped fully open, her missing molar tooth shown to all. "You're joking…." She closed her mouth, slightly, as she made eye-contact with the Headmistress. The Professor shook her head. "I'm afraid, Miss McCoy," she said rather quietly "that I rarely joke in situations like this."

McGonagall turned to Mr. McCoy as she pushed in her chair.

"The directions to Diagon Alley are on the back of the acceptance letter, Mr. McCoy." Professor McGonagall informed.

"Well," Mr. McCoy held out his right hand to shake. "It was nice meeting with you, Professor, and thank you for letting Coraline attend."

"You're welcome, Mr. McCoy."

"Please, call me Alvin."

Coraline sat back in her chair, trying to wrap her mind around what she just found out. She had thought that there were kids like her that went to Hogwarts all the time. She had actually looked forward to forming a pack of some sort and belonging and being accepted for who she was instead of "What". This changed everything she had anticipated.

"Coraline!" Coraline blinked and was drawn back into the kitchen, still sitting at the table while her Headmistress was about to leave.

"Oh." She whispered as she stood up and held out her hand for the Professor. "Thanks for letting me attend Hogwarts, Professor. I promise I'll do my best!"

"I know you will, Coraline." And with a sudden flick of a brownish blur, a deafening CRACK echoed in the kitchen and she was gone.

Coraline stood there, gazing at the spot where her Headmistress disaperated. She felt somewhat cold as she was left standing in the kitchen with her father. She was just told that in the entire history of magic, there was only one other werewolf to ever study magic.

Her image of what she imagined shattered into oblivion like glass. There were so many pieces that even with a spell; it could never be re-assembled the same way. She would be alone, even at school because of her condition. If it got out that she was a werewolf, would they distance themselves from her? Would they tease her?

Not only that, but considering that Hogwarts only had one werewolf to deal with, what if they messed up? What if the potion wasn't made right so she became more dangerous than normal? What would she do if something went wrong?

"Coraline," her father touched her left shoulder, knowing the right was tender. "They've got a good system that's worked before and they've got a potions master to make that…uh…thing for you, they know what they're doing." She shook her head. "Dad" she replied, her gaze still focused on the woodwork of the table.

"They know-"her father said slowly "What they're doing."

Coraline took a deep breath and let it go out her nose. Slowly bending to her father's advice, she nodded and was forced to accept his judgment.

"_I hope you're right Dad. I hope you're right._**"**

* * *

**Read and Review please!**


	3. The Wandmaker’s Last Customer

**Chapter 3**

**The Wandmaker's Last Customer**

**

* * *

**

**D**espite the fact that Coraline needed her school supplies, Mr. McCoy had to wait until his next pay check in order to afford the money. He promised her that they would go to Diagon Alley before the affects of the approaching full moon began to take its toll on his daughter; he wanted her to be at her healthiest point when they went. Coraline did feel awful, even when she was meeting with Professor McGonagall she felt the desperate urge to go back to bed because she felt sick and weak from everything that had been going on. Her healthiest point was in two weeks so while her father went to the Hospital for work, Coraline was left to unpack the things to keep her busy and leave the heavy stuff to her father for the weekend.

During the next few days Coraline and her father continued to unpack and settle in at Darwin Court. The floor of the complex in which they lived in consisted, in Coraline's opinion, were very nice.

Across the hall, in apartment 220, lived Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, a young couple who had gotten married over a year ago and were expecting a baby in December. Mr. Henderson was a tall, dark haired man with a rather pig like nose who volunteered to help the McCoy's move in with the most sincere smile Coraline had ever seen. Mrs. Henderson was a plain looking young woman with blond hair and a soft voice, who had peeked out of her apartment to tell her husband that he was late for work.

Next door in 223, lived Ms. Wyrick. A red-headed woman in her late 40's who was involved with some form of music, because Coraline often heard the sound of a marching band recording from beyond the other side of her bedroom wall and to tell the truth, they weren't that great. This led her to believe that Ms. Wyrick was a High School band teacher and to Coraline's not-so-surprise when her Dad met her, she was right.

A few other people ducked in and out of their flats only to go to work, Coraline never saw many people considering she was told not to leave the flat and only open the door when it was someone she knew knocking at the door. But with the help of a stool and the eye-hole in the door, she was able to see glimpses of people as they walked off to work.

Every time she felt the floor shake with the vibrations of a door closing, she would prop up the stool against the door and stand on her toes to see who was passing by. After a week, Coraline had figured out that at least 7 of the 10 rooms were occupied, 4 were married and 3 were single. Those who were single were 2 men and a divorced woman (Who she believed to be Ms. Wyrick.) and the married couples were ether like the Henderson family, young with no kids, or old and the kids all gotten married themselves.

It wasn't until the middle of her second week in London that Coraline conformed that there was another kid on her floor that was around her age.

She hadn't met the kid yet, but she had seen enough evidence to prove that a couple and their daughter lived in 228. From time to time, when she was in the living room, setting up the picture frames, she heard a girl's voice walk down the hallway from further down, and when she opened the door for her Dad at 8 every night, she could see what looked like a doll laying outside the apartment.

This disappointed her a little; if she wanted a friend she would want it to be a boy. She really didn't enjoy playing with dolls or dressing in pink dresses like the other girls back home did. A boy wouldn't ask a lot of questions about her life before and about her scars, when girls and teachers asked her about them back in America, Coraline would mutter "I just need to stop falling down that's all…" She hated lying to people but she knew it was for their own good. But if they became friends, so be it.

Between the spying, the unpacking, the writing and the reading, Coraline had almost completely forgotten about the letter until Friday night almost two weeks later.

Mr. McCoy had come home early so that they could go to the store just a few blocks away. They had made small trips the week before, getting just enough to get them by, but this time Coraline and her Dad needed to make two trips just to get everything they bought home. She pointed out that they could have their food delivered but her Dad protested.

"No Coraline, I won't have it."

"Dad, then we wouldn't have to take two trips; we don't have a car anymore it's not like before."

"Coraline, that cost extra money, we need that for your school shopping tomorrow."

She set the paper bag on the table as they entered the kitchen. Her heart quivered and her mind jolted as she remembered.

"_Oh yeah, I'm going to Hogwarts…_"

Her Dad made spaghetti for dinner that night, served with his special mushroom and tomato sauce, Coraline loved any kind of pasta (as long as there wasn't too much garlic) but that night, she just picked at it. She stared at her food in deep thought at what was going to happen tomorrow.

"Coraline, eat." He told her "You won't be at your healthiest tomorrow if you don't eat."

The next day, Coraline was riding on her first, ever, subway with her Dad by her side. She noted how, instead of "Subway" they called it an "Underground" and how all the signs where they were located were easy to spot. This made her feel a bit more relaxed knowing that if she ever got lost, she could use her day ticket to get home to the Camden Town station.

They took the "Northern" line all the way passed Moornington Crescent and a number of other stops she couldn't remember. Each time the car stopped, a number of people would get off until the car was almost empty save for a handful of people, and through the same doors just as many people would get in. Coraline wondered why people in the big cities ever liked the idea of being this crowded together and how odd this was for her. But she looked around and saw the riders just solving the puzzle in the paper or listening to their iPod as if this was nothing to really think about. Save for a large group of teenagers, obviously tourists from America that were speaking really loud. It was very amusing however, though frightening for the adult chaperones, to see one girl get off at one stop and having all the other kids yell through the door which station to meet them at.

At last, once free of the crowds, Coraline emerged from the station and looked around. She couldn't see anything that indicated a place to purchase a wand or a spell book. But then, she vaguely remembered, when she went to the Apothecary with her Mom when she was little, that they had to go through another shop that Muggles (Including her father) didn't seem to notice and from there, through the back door, lay the shops. If the Wizarding world followed tradition, there should be a shop that her father couldn't see that she could.

"Keep your eyes open, Coraline" her father whispered to her as they walked down the street crowded with people. "You're looking for a place called "_The Leaky Cauldron_"." He read off the back of one of the letters. She carefully scanned the streets for a place where most people seemed to walk by, craning her neck and searching for the named place.

She however, found something better.

"Dad, let's follow him." She tugged on her father's shoulder and pointed in front of her. In the direction she pointed, quickly walked a man in a black cloak that seemed to be heading in a specific direction, catching stares as he went was probably the cause of his brisk pace.

They began to pick up their own pace and kept the man in their sights, she stayed close to him as the crowds of people heading in the opposite direction seemed to brush against her.

Finally, she spotted the man turning and going through a door. They both stopped and stepped off to the side to let the traffic of people though as Coraline spotted the sign, the words so faint she could barley read it "_The Leaky Cauldron_".

Taking her father by his hand she walked up to the door and through it.

She could feel her father tense up as they stepped into, what looked like, a bar. Candles seemed to be the primary source, that and the window which shed light from the outside and the smell of smoke entered Coraline's nose. But she also noted, as she and her father stood there with the door snapping shut behind them, that they were definitely in the right place.

Every single person in that room was wearing a cloak of some sort, green ones, dark blue ones, and she even spotted a yellow one near the back of the area. They wore strange hats, odd glasses and Coraline, with her sensitive ears, caught bits of conversations.

One witch wearing a dark violet cloak at the counter was talking to the bartender saying "Oh, I'll just have a Butterbeer, Tom, the last time I drank that stuff I couldn't get home without Merry." A group of Wizards in a booth nearby whispered "Quite frankly I don't care for this "Jacobs"; I don't think Shacklebolt should have resigned, he was one of the lead Auror's in the war."

Coraline also noticed how people seemed to emerge from the fireplace in a blaze of green light and how the plates seemed to fly towards their customers barring food. The McCoys were, needless to say, happy that they were welcomed back into this world.

"New to this are you?" called a woman from a table next to where they stood. She turned, the woman stood up, her long dark blue cloak seemed to flow from her height, and her black hair flowed down like a river as she stared at the two.

"Well" her father stuttered "Not really, my wife use to know more about this then me. I'm a Muggle, she's the witch." He pointed to Coraline.

The woman nodded and turned around, "Follow me." She said as she made her way through the maze of tables and people, the McCoys following suit to a door near the back of the bar.

As they entered, Coraline was a bit disappointed. She expected that beyond the door she just went through to be shops like the ones back in America, full of magic and wonder. But all that they stood in was a dead end, a trash can, and a solid brick wall. She was about to say something when she spotted the woman counting the bricks and pulling out a wand from the inside of her robes. The woman turned around to her and motioned her hand for her to come over to see. She neared the trash can and the woman counted the bricks again.

"Now remember, darling" she said, pointing her wand at a brick on the wall. "Three up, two across and tap it three times with your wand-"the woman tapped the said brick with her wand three times. "Now stand back." Coraline and the woman stepped back to where her father stood watching, at first the brick merely quivered, then it seemed to move out of place and a small hole appeared, then another brick quivered and moved. Soon they all were moving and rolling out of the way to make an entrance to a cobble stoned street crammed with cloaked people.

"Cool." She whispered as the bricks seemed to settle down. She looked up at her father, who was grinning with his eyebrows up all the way. The woman just smiled.

"Now, go before it closes." She pushed them both on their back and turned around to go back into the bar. "Thank you, Miss!" Coraline called out as her father and she walked towards the street. She managed to look back to see the woman nod in approval before the wall seemed to almost grow back to its original state.

Though it was a small walkway, the sun shown down on the street and the people walking out of a shop with the sign that said "_Apothecary_" on it, barrels of strange plants and other things held signs of what they were and how much. On the other side was the cauldron shop where one wizard was looking at a golden one with much interest.

Coraline suddenly remembered something as she spotted one of the signs that said something like "_9 Sickles_" for the price of an Owl outside of the Owl Emporium. She turned to her Dad, who was touching her left shoulder, guiding her though, the crowded street. "Dad, is there a different currency here?" she asked as they passed by a book shop.

Her Dad almost stopped in the street but managed to keep going as the crowd behind him formed up. "I forgot about that…" he admitted. He took her off to the side outside of "_Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_" where, in the window, a young girl was being measured by a rather old looking woman. He took out the list from his jean pocket and unfolded it.

She looked around at the shops, a little down where they came from she saw a place where brooms where shown gleaming in the window, a group of boys, younger than her seemed to crowd around the window. Across the street was "_Creevey's Magical Photography_" where moving portraits of witches and wizards was displayed in the window, while a family stepped out of the shop and into the traffic line of the streets.

"Ok." Her Dad finally said "I think I got it. You need some robes here so I'll go into the bank and set everything up and you get your robes. I'll have to pay for them so wait there until I get back. Ok, Coraline?" Coraline looked up at her Dad. This was surprising of him, in her entire life he had never wanted her to get out of his sight, even when it would save time for something like this. "Why can't I come with you?"

Her father sighed, scratching the back of his neck he looked over to the left of the street where she saw a large white building with white pillars. "That is Gringotts, the Wizard bank. I've been here only once in my life and I really don't want to go back to tell the truth but I've got to set up an account and exchange the money."

She frowned. Her Dad was afraid of something in the bank. And that was good enough reason to stay out of whatever was making her Dad hesitate. "You'll be back to pay for my robe?" she asked, as she and he walked into the Robe shop. A stout woman wearing a bright red color looked up at both of them with a smile. "Hello, Hogwarts too?" she looked down at Coraline.

"Yes, but first I've got to go to the bank and exchange some money, I won't be long so can she just-"

"Of course," the woman nodded to her father "We're usually the first stop; she should be done by the time you get back."

She turned to her Dad as he nodded and looked down at her with his blue eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon." She hugged her Dad before he turned around and left. Coraline felt a little empty inside; in her entire life she had only been alone when her Dad was at work. School didn't really count because it was a place she knew but this was her FIRST TIME in a new place where she was without him. It felt…strange to not have him nearby.

"Come on, dear." Said the witch took her hand and led her to the back of the shop where another girl with blond hair was being fitted by another witch. Coraline stepped on the stool and Madam Malkin slipped a black cloth over her head and began to pin it to her height.

"So" the blond girl said "Are you going to Hogwarts too?" she asked in a polite way with a smile. Coraline nodded and smiled back. "We'll be in the same class then, what's your name?"

"Coraline." She said.

"That's a pretty name." the girl complemented.

"My Mom said that I'm named after the book called "Coraline", someone gave the book to her as a present and she thought it was a nice name."

"I wish my parents could have been that smart." She said in a despairing tone. "They named me "Jan".

"Jan?" Coraline asked "Like in "Janet"?

"No, "Jan" as in "January".

"Oh…I still think that's a nice name though."

They stood in silence as they continued to be pinned, looking for another subject to talk about.

"So." Jan started again "Do you know what Hogwarts will be like? My parents aren't magical so they don't know."

"Well, we'll find out together, I don't know what it's like ether."

"So, your parents are non-magic too?"

Her heart sank. "Well…My Dad is…My Mom was a witch but she died before I could ask."

Jan's head turned to Coraline, her brown eyes looking into her blue ones with pity "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Coraline shook her head slightly, not disturbing the woman's work. "It's ok. I'm glad I'll be going to the same school she went to though. It makes me feel a little closer to her this way."

"Is that the reason why you moved from America?" Jan asked

"No, my Dad got a job offer at the hospital-hey how did you know I moved from America?" Coraline asked rather empty-headedly of herself.

"Your accent." Jan replied. Coraline blinked a few times. She didn't notice that she was speaking differently until that moment. Compared to the locals the tone of her words was flat and she tended to miss pronouncing the "T's" and slurred things together like "Common!" when it was "Come on!" For admiring the legendary detective, she felt like a disappointment to Doyle that she didn't notice that until Jan pointed it out to her. She felt embarrassed and was left with her mouth hanging open slightly.

"All done!" the woman fitting Jan replied. Jan hopped off the stool and looked up at Coraline. "I'll see you at school!" she said as she handed the woman some money from her pocket. "It was nice meeting you, Coraline!" she yelled as she walked out of the shop.

"It was nice meeting you too!" she yelled after her. No sooner had Jan walked out of the shop did another person enter in. It was Coraline's father, his wallet out and a few golden coins in his hand. He walked toward her, a smile on her face at her father's somewhat pale completion.

"Meet a new friend?" He asked. Coraline nodded.

"I need your full name dear." Madam Malkin asked Coraline. She looked at the woman who was about to stitch in something with a needle and thread. "Coraline R. McCoy."

Madam Malkin began to sew the name into the cloak while Coraline began to look around, the dim shop. Suddenly though, she felt Madam Malkin stop sewing. She looked at the witch who was frowning a bit. "What is this?" she whispered at the sight of something. She felt a shiver of panic go up her spine. She had probably found the scar of the bite on her shoulder and was wondering what it was.

"Oh" Coraline turned to her father who suddenly spoke up, holding the list of school materials in his hand. "Madam Malkin, you sew the winter cloak as well?"

"Indeed I do, Mr. McCoy, that's what I'm working on right now." She replied, taking her eyes off of the scar.

"Well she needs those fastenings changed, I'll pay you extra to make the adjustments if it's a problem-"

"No need, Mr. McCoy," She replied, picking up the needle and finishing sewing Coraline's name onto the inside of the cloak. "I should have asked first if you needed any adjustments. Dear, you need to be very still, I need to get the silver off of this."

Coraline stood on the stool, being very still and thanking her lucky star that Jan wasn't around to hear that.

After paying the woman in some gold coins, Coraline and her father walked out into the sunlight with her robes, all carefully folded in a shopping bag that seemed to have a charm cast on it so that it felt like there was nothing in it. They both walked back towards the barrier (As agreed to start from the beginning now that they had money.) and began to collect the rest of her school supplies.

After the Apothecary though and by looking at the Cauldron Shop it was clear that they needed something to carry all this back home in so that no "Muggle" would look twice. And after a quick trip back down the street to the travel case shop, they resumed with a rolling trunk as their cart that seemed to glide over the cobblestones as if it was smooth as a new marble floor.

After getting the cauldron and looking at a broom deemed "The Bolt 180" ("They say that Harry Potter HIMSELF helped with making this model." She heard one boy in the crowd say.), they headed down to the Owl Emporium, the McCoys both agreed that by being accepted into Hogwarts was proof enough that Coraline was accepted into the Wizarding World and thus: would need a way to receive mail when she was at school. After about half an hour of searching through all the owls, they both finally decided on an ideal owl. The reason for choosing this particular one was because they lived in London and owls weren't regularly seen flying in a busy city in the middle of the day. They needed something that wouldn't stand out or maybe mistaken for a crow or a pidgin or even a seagull. This owl was all shades of gray, but was fluffy in the feathers so that it would be hard to tell at a distance what it really was. The owl seemed to be young to Coraline, because as soon as they stepped out into the busy street, the owl looked all around like she was just an hour ago. She would have to think of a good name for her.

After getting her stationary (Which Coraline rolled her eyes at when she saw quills and ink "How come they don't use pens? Ink can spill.") They popped into "_Magical Instruments_" to get her phials' ("Why don't they just call them "Potion Containers"?") her telescope and her scales. She stopped for a few minutes to examine a magical model of the solar system. "It's interesting to see the galaxy like this. You're so lucky, Coraline." Her Dad said upon catching her looking at it before dragging her off to a book store called "_Flourish & Blott's_".

Coraline was awed in every way, never before had she seen so many books in one place, not even the library at her school back in America had this many variety of books and in this number! She was in HEAVEN! There were books made of stone, books that were alive (The owner told her to step back from those) books that changed colors and one really bizarre book that seemed to be talking in another language. She had to force some self-control upon herself as her Dad started to look for all the books on her list while she browsed. There was no way her Dad could buy all of these books but maybe, if she could find JUST ONE extra one to get, maybe it would be he would agree to purchase it. She had browsed only one section of the shop, and had about 3 titles already in mind to get, "_Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century" _being the most recent, when her hand stopped on a book, in which the spine said "_Hairy Snout, Human Heart_".

She blinked at the title before taking the book down to look at the cover.

The cover was plan black. No moving picture, no author mentioned. She opened the book and managed to conform, by picking a random spot, that it was the story about a werewolf's journey through life. But she also spotted the copyright date and it was written more than 40 years ago. She put the book back. Hoping that she wouldn't need the advice because of the time changes.

Walking out with all her books (And a copy of "Hogwarts: A History" "The manager said that that book is checked out at the school's library all the time, I'll just get you a copy." Said her Dad.) And making their way pass the bank where two goblins ("Yes, Coraline; GOBLINS.") stood guard over the door, they checked off the purchased supplies with one of Coraline's new quill that magically spouted ink like a pen.

"Well" her Dad finally said, Coraline tugging her items carefully as they flowed with traffic. "The only thing left to get now is your wand."

She looked up at her Dad, "Don't they give me them at school? Isn't it just a piece of wood?"

"Not exactly, Coraline." He said as he guided her through the crowd that seemed to be flowing into a store that she couldn't see from her height. "It's getting late so we need to hurry."

After the crowd of people there was hardly anyone in the street. Coraline had just noticed that the sky had begun to turn into an extremely soft shade of orange, soft but visible. Shops would be closing soon and she was at her healthiest point today, tomorrow would begin her health's downward decent and she couldn't wait a whole month, school was a little less than three weeks away, the moon was already making it so that she would have to go to school the day after, she was lucky that it wasn't day of.

The McCoys walked to the end of the road and faced the last, darkest, and smallest shop in Diagon alley. In peeling gold letters the sign read "_Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C_". A single dusty wand lay on a pinkish pillow in the window.

With all of her stuff, they opened the door and entered. A bell rang from somewhere, but Coraline couldn't see where it came from. The shop was as the quietest place she ever knew, where boxes lined the shelves that towered to the ceiling. Some were dusty and others looked as if they had just been put there. Mr. McCoy spotted a chair nearby but didn't sit in it. She knew that he wouldn't sit as long as a lady stood up. "What a gentlemen" was often her reply to him, but not in here. She felt that if she spoke, the whole building would collapse on itself and she would discover that this place was only a dream. Even the dust seemed to have a magical quality as it hung aloft in the air she breathed.

She couldn't help herself, she felt the dust go into her nose and tickle it from the inside. She tried to hold her breath but knew it wasn't going to work, she sneezed into her arm and as if the noise had drawn attention to them, the sound of footfalls graced her sensitive ears. No sooner had she sneezed that an old man appeared out of one of the halls the shelves provided. His eyes were a deeper blue then hers and he didn't seem to blink as much as an ordinary human just like Coraline.

"Hello" said the old man in a soft voice. Mr. McCoy nearly jumped at the man's presence. "Forgive me for the wait."

"No need, Mr. Ollivander." Her father spoke up. "We walked in kind of quietly; I wondered if you could hear that bell with its soft ring, maybe you should change it."

Mr. Ollivander paid no attention to Mr. McCoy but instead walked slowly over towards Coraline, as if trying to remember something important he had forgotten. Slowly he smiled. "I never thought I would see Miss Bell's daughter in my shop." The McCoys looked at each other quickly and then turned back at the old wand maker. "Yes, I remember her purchasing her wand here years ago." He turned to Mr. McCoy as he sensed the man's confusing gaze.

"Oh, you must be her husband, Alvin McCoy." He said softly with a smile. Mr. McCoy's mouth dropped. "How did you-"

"I read the Daily Prophet sir, that's a newspaper for us magic-folk, and I read an announcement some years ago that you and Adrian had gotten married before leaving for America. Do forgive me sir," He apologized again, "But I try to keep track of the wands that I've sold and what their owners are doing in the world."

Mr. Ollivander moved away from Mr. McCoy and looked down at his daughter.

"And you must be Coraline," He said with a happy note in his voice. She nodded and he smiled. "Your mother's wand," He began "was 14 and a quarter inches, with a unicorn hair core that was made from the wood of an Oak whose life spanned over a thousand years." He reported to her. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss McCoy, and whom I've sold it to. I must say that in my entire life I have and will never see a wand more in-tune with the thoughts of a wizard, or witch in this case, as that one. The very first spell was a non-verbal one, not even being taught and yet she knew what to do. Not safe for dueling but the fastest spell caster I have ever created."

Coraline's eyebrows scrunched together to form a confused look. "There is no wand that is the same, my dear," He explained "We use sizes, different wood and cores for the power of the wands range from Phoenix Feathers to Dragon Heart-Strings, to Unicorn Hairs, you will never get as good as results with another wizard's wand and no two wands will ever share the core that came from the same source." Ollivander frowned before adding, "With one exception."

He then moved away to the shelves, looking at the black boxes that lined the dust. "The wand chooses the user, Miss McCoy." He chose one and shimmied it out from under another. "That is why; we need to see which wand will accept you and which one will be yours."

He handed her a wand that had a greenish color to it. The instant she took the handle, the wand seemed to become too hot to hold, Coraline dropped it and it clattered to the floor.

Mr. Ollivander sighed. "I'm always hopeful that someday, someone will come along that it likes. Beech, 13 inches, Unicorn hair, nice for household spells."

After placing it back in the box and putting the box back, he moved into another aisle of wand boxes and after a few moments of browsing, emerged with an empty box in one hand, and a solid brown in the other.

"Let's try this one, something a little friendlier, Yew, 12 and a half, Dragon Heart-String of a Chinese Fireball, an excellent defensive tool." Coraline took the wand cautiously. When she felt only wood and not a hot stove, she grasped the handle. She knew somehow she was supposed to wave it, but it didn't feel right. She stood there looking at the deep brown color until Mr. Ollivander took it out of her hand and sighed again. "But not for you apparently."

Soon, it started getting ridiculous, wand after wand came and went, Mr. Ollivander telling just what the wand was made of and so forth and each time she would ether feel weird that she wouldn't wave it or she WOULD wave it but then something bad would happen like when the Mahogany wand made the shelves burst into flame. Mr. Ollivander had to wipe out his own wand and personally calmed it himself.

Coraline looked out the window, the sky was turning to a solid orange now and by her last count, they had tried 165 wands total. She felt a little nervous as each wand seemed to reject her, what if no wand would accept her for what she was? What if after trying ever wand in the shop Mr. Ollivander would kick them out and tell them to go return all her stuff because no wand would want her?

After wand number 166, Ebony with a phoenix feather for its core at 11 inches, a nice little powerhouse. Mr. Ollivander bit his lip and paused.

"Ah…" he suddenly said, shaking his head. "I must be getting old…How could I forget?"

Mr. Ollivander suddenly took out a silver measuring tape and began to measure her. "Which arm is your wand arm dear?" he asked her. Turning away from the pair and moving to the boxes as the tape continued to measure almost everything of Coraline that stuck out.

"My right." She said nervously, eyeing the silver tape measure as it measured the length of her nostrils; she moved her head away from the tape shaking slightly being careful not to touch it.

The old wand maker turned back around and looked at her, a confused look on his face as she stood very still but watched as the tape measure continued to measure everything.

"That's enough" he said, and the tape fell to the ground as limp as any ordinary measuring tape. Mr. Ollivander moved in closer, his tired somewhat cat-like eyes examining her in every detail. His eyes slowly spotted the two long claw-like scars that ran down the left side of Coraline's neck. She sighed as she pulled the left sleeve up on her arm to show him the rest of the collection. She turned away as he touched her scared arm lightly with his crinkly fingers. She felt him pull her jacket sleeve back over her scars, she turned to his face and as he turned for his eyes to meet hers, he was beaming.

"I believe", he said in a soft whisper that Coraline was sure only she could hear because of her heightened hearing "I know now." He turned away and around a corner, leaving she and her father to wait again. Her father had watched on his feet the entire time, and had not interfered. She appreciated his wait but felt kind of bad that he wouldn't even sit down.

Finally, Mr. Ollivander came back. Turning on a gas light that was placed on the desk as he walked towards her, carrying a long black box in one hand and the most beautiful wand, Coraline had ever seen in the other.

The handle of the wand was a wooden color that would be mostly seen in hardwood floors on the decks of water-front properties, but the long end of it was a red-ish color that was fiery and stood out against the darkness. Out of all the wands she had handled, this one HAD to be it.

"_Wand number one-hundred sixty-seven, I hope your mine!_" Coraline thought with an almost desperate plea in her mind. The old man leaned the wand within her grasp, she carefully touched the art-work with her pale hand and in an instant, she felt proud, warm, she felt as if she could overcome almost anything. Without a word she grasped the handle and spun around on the spot, the wand instantly burst forth blue sparks that seemed to change color the more she waved it. Mr. Ollivander clapped along with her father as she lowered her wand and stopped waving it. She looked down at the wand with the feeling that she had just found a new friend for life.

"Well done, Miss McCoy!" Mr. Ollivander walked toward her "I think it may mean something to you that both you and your mother have surprised me."

Coraline looked at Mr. Ollivander with wide eyes. His mood had changed quite suddenly; the mood had become tense in the shop.

"The reason why it took so long for you to find each other was because I didn't notice you were a Lycanthrope. Almost 40 years ago however, I was able to identify it when a young boy walked in as pale and as nervous as you about the measuring tape. After a few tries, a 14 inch Ash wood wand with a Welsh Green Dragon Heart-String core chose him. A very good friend for difficult spells."

"That wand, Miss McCoy, is exactly 14 inches and made from a Sequoia tree, its core is the dragon heart string of a Norwegian Ridgeback." Coraline looked down at the wand in awe. "The Jack of All Trades." Mr. Ollivander said as he backed away and moved to his desk. "And the first wand I ever made." He opened a book and began to scratch his quill into it. "Fitting, considering this is my last day."

"Your last day?" she asked, turning to the ancient wand maker.

"Yes, tomorrow my grandson will manage this shop." He said almost regretfully. "Today, I realized that I do not have the memory I once had. I must pass this craft on." Her shoulders sunk a bit at this news. "You, Miss McCoy, are my last customer." He reported with a heavy tone in his voice. "I am happy however to see that my first wand has finally found a worthy witch to be with."

Mr. Ollivander smiled and Coraline smiled back.

"Well," Mr. McCoy finally spoke up, taking the handle of the trunk in his hand after giving 7 gold coins to the wise and old wand maker. "It's getting late…Thank you, Mr. Ollivander, and I wish your grandson good luck."

Mr. Ollivander nodded "Thank you, Mr. McCoy." Coraline turned with her wand wrapped up carefully in brown paper in its box, her father held the door open as she stepped at the exit of the shop. She stopped and turned to face Mr. Ollivander. "Thank you for helping me," She thanked "I promise I'll take good care of my wand."

He smiled once more and said "Good luck, Coraline." Before she turned around and let the door close behind her as she and her father ventured out into the darkening, emptying Diagon Alley.

* * *

It took about an hour for the McCoy's to go through the brick wall, out of the Leaky Cauldron, through the underground and back to Darwin Court with all of Coraline's school supplies (And an Owl) in one trunk. Mr. McCoy called stuffing-everything-into-one-trunk "An accomplishment". Coraline found it annoying; a time saver, but annoying.

With the help of her father to carry it, they made it back to the second floor and in front of the door to their flat. Coraline was busy trying to get all of the owl's energy out while on the way back but the bird seemed to have unlimited energy because despite all of her efforts, it kept chirping in the hallway as her Dad struggled to get the trunk in the front door.

"Oh, PLEASE be quiet for a few more moments!" She politely asked her new owl. The bird ignored her and continued to make a racket.

"Coraline?"

Coraline stopped pampering the owl and turned around to the edge of the hallway where Jan stood in her Jean skirt and pink shirt, her parents tall and blond headed stood nearby at the entrance of the hall.

"Jan?" She was confused "What are you doing here?"

She looked around briefly before saying "I live here. What are you doing here?"

Coraline grinned as she repeated "I live here."

"Coraline?" Her Dad had finally gotten the trunk into the flat and was wiping the sweat of his forehead with the edge of his coat sleeve. "Who's this?" he said as he spotted Jan.

"Dad, this is Jan. I met her in Diagon Alley! We're going to be in the same year together!" Coraline said with a smile on her face that put a smile on her Dad's face.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Jan." He nodded and looked to Jan's parents who stood close by.

"Hi, I'm Alvin McCoy." He held out his hand for Jan's father to shake. "My daughter and I just moved here from America."

The man took her father's hand and shook it, "Benjamin Taylor, it looks like our daughters are going to the same school. What a coincidence!"

Coraline and Jan both looked at each other with a grin barring on all of their faces.

* * *

**7,000 WORDS FOR THIS ONE CHAPTER! Read and Review PLEASE!!!**


	4. Two Weeks Notice

**Chapter 4**

**Two Weeks Notice**

* * *

**T**he next morning, Jan came over to Coraline's flat with a backpack full of the things she bought in Diagon Alley, thinking it was a good idea to look at them with someone who knew what to expect.

"I mean, it's not that I'm stupid." Jan said as she set the backpack down on Coraline's bed. "It's just that I don't like to be surprised."

Coraline sighed and agreed. "But Jan, I haven't been exposed to anything magical since my Mom died. I can't really remember anything magical at this point."

Coraline found Jan to be her only friend in life. Up to that point she never really felt like she could relate to anyone but her father; the kids in America often spoke to her but she could never really call them "Friend".

Jan was different then Coraline in many ways. First: Jan was peppy, excited and blond while Coraline was a bit gothic, stoic and dark red-headed, which was going to be mistaken for black if her hair kept it up. Jan wore skirts and tank tops while Coraline wore jackets and jeans even in 90 degree weather. Not like she had a choice in that department, with all her scars.

But there was something about Jan that made Coraline like her. Her thirst for knowledge, to experiment or maybe it was just an "Opposites Attract" thing that she had heard so much about.

Whatever the reason, Jan and Coraline had become friends.

There was a shrill shriek from the other side of the room, Coraline and Jan turned to the cage in which a shaded gray owl perched with glowing eyes, staring at the duo from behind the bars.

"You got an owl?" Jan asked as Coraline moved over to the cage. "Yeah, didn't you get one?"

"Why would I get one? Are they required? I didn't see it on the list as a requirement."

Coraline unlocked the cage and the owl flew out and landed next to Jan on the bed. Jan sprang up in surprise, as the owl tipped itself over and lay with its back on the bed, wings spared, with its eyes shut.

Coraline and Jan stared at it for a moment in utter amazement. She was still breathing but Coraline knew that it wasn't like owls to sleep like that, or to act so much like a cat and steel a warm spot.

"Is your owl ok?" Jan asked, nearing towards it.

"Yeah." Coraline said, thinking with a finger tapping on her lip. "I think I even have a name for her now."

"What is it?" Jan asked.

"Wendelin the Weird."

Jan turned with a cocked eyebrow "Wendelin?"

Coraline nodded. "I read a chapter in my history of magic book about the witches back in the dark ages." She explained "When Muggles actually caught a witch; the witch would just perform a simple tickling flame charm and pretend to shriek in pain while being burned at the stake. A witch named Wendelin the Weird enjoyed it so much that she got caught no less than 47 times."

Jan turned to the newly christened owl, Wendelin, before saying "Yep that fits."

"Owls like Wendelin are kind of like postmen for wizards. Muggles have cars, planes, and e-mail that wizards don't have access to. Owls can fly mail across the country and are great companions; we had an owl called Beatrice until she died about three years ago, I really miss her."

"Oh…I wish I knew about that. I may have to go back to Diagon Alley to get one next week."

"What about we share Wendelin for this year actually?"

"Share?"

"Our families live in the same complex. It would save the trip for you, and it could help you get use to having an animal around. I mean, why send two owls to the same place?"

After a while, Coraline and Jan moved into the living room where the big sofa and coffee table was so that they could sort out and look at what was to expect.

Among the school books of "Fantastic Beasts" and "Standard Book of Spells" were a variety of smaller things that looked a little bit like candy containers. Coraline picked a pentagon shaped container off the ground as if fell off the table to examine it.

"Chocolate Frog?" Coraline asked Jan who just shook her head "I was hoping you'd know. My parents bought me these sweets yesterday and to tell the truth, I'm a bit nervous about some of these. Last night, one of these boxes started to move on its own."

Coraline opened the box. Jan took a step back as Coraline lifted the candy out of its package to look at it. It was a chocolate frog, as advertised, but the candy was moving as Coraline held it in-between her fingers. IT WAS ALIVE! Coraline dropped it on the floor in surprise and the candy began to jump towards Jan. She screamed and seemed to dance, trying to keep her feet up and out of the frog's way, after a while of this performance the frog suddenly stopped hopping and remained still and lifeless there until Coraline walked over to it and picked it up.

"Must be a spell." She concluded, before shoving it into her mouth. Jan groaned in disgust at this display. Coraline turned around to look at her. "It's just chocolate."

"But it moved so…real."

Coraline looked back at the box that the candy had hopped out of. There was some sort of writing on the inside, like facts and what not. "Hey, it looks like there's a collector's card in here!" Coraline sat back down on the sofa and pried the card out from the box that it was tightly bound to and turned it over to a picture of a man with flaming red hair and freckles all over his nose.

"Collector's cards?" Jan leaned over Coraline's shoulder to look at the card. Coraline turned it over to read:

_**Ronald Weasley**_

_Currently working at "W.W.W"_

_Ronald Weasley aided Harry Potter and Hermione Granger in defeating the dark Wizard, Voldemort, in 2005. He currently works in Diagon Alley with his brother, George Weasley, at the popular joke shop "Weasleys's Wizard Wheezes" and lives in the country with his wife Hermione with their two children, Hugo and Rose. Ronald enjoys playing Quidditch and Chess._

She turned the card back over to look at Ronald again. He waved. Jan jumped and nearly fell off the couch. "AH!" she screamed "IT MOVED!"

Coraline gasped. "Oh yeah! I forgot that Muggle pictures don't move!" Jan turned incredulously to Coraline, her eyes wide. "How could you forget something like that?" she asked. She thought about it before saying "Well, I've lived with that my whole life, it's normal for me. I'm sorry I didn't remember it sooner. But I'm pretty sure that that's all I'm forgetting."

After a while, they got full of the frogs and unwrapping the cards. Together they unwrapped Morgana, Bathilda Bagshot, Merlin, and Coraline screamed when the man on the last card turned out to be Steven Spielberg ("I KNEW THAT HE WAS TOO GOOD OF A DIRECTOR TO BE NORMAL!")

For the rest of the week, Jan came over to Coraline's flat around noon every day and they would read interesting things about wizards or some spells they couldn't wait to try out once they started school. She was particularly keen on the levitation spell and the one spell that could unlock doors.

It got to the point where they couldn't wait any more. About a week later after Jan's first visit, she brought over a single object, a thin black box wrapped up in brown paper.

Jan took her wand out of its box as Coraline closed the door to her room. She held it up to the light and held it as if it was made of glass. "Take a look" Jan said as she moved it down so that She could see it. It was a grayish brown with a very complex design on it, points and jabs near the end of the handle that she held lightly became smooth curls farther up the wand's point. "What's its stats?" Coraline asked as she sat on her bed.

"It's stats?"

"You know, what it's made of? What's its core?"

"Oh, it's 12 inches long, it has a Phoenix feather in it and it's made of Cedar." Jan explained. "It took me ages to get it. Mr. Ollivander said that this wand is particularly fast and in the wrong hands it would just go off without warning. He said that with me it should slow down a little. Now what about yours?"

Coraline rose up from the bed, but quickly sat back down as she felt her energy leave her for a moment. Jan stepped closer to Coraline in worry "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

Her heart sank. It was getting close to the full moon and she was getting weaker and paler. She didn't want to lie to Jan, but her father made her promise that if she asked Coraline, she would stick to the story they had going.

"I've…got a kind of blood disease." She said, looking down at the floor. "I've got too much blood going through me that my white blood cells can't handle the stuff that gets inside me. I go though phases actually. I get to my sickest point, when I have to go to the hospital, and then my system recovers and starts to build up. Then, as soon as I'm at my healthiest, it just kind of lags and I start to get sick again."

Jan looked at Coraline with a most sorrowful expression that made her heart fall though the bottom of her chest. "I didn't know." She said "Are you getting better?"

"No" She replied. "At this rate, I may miss the train to go to school."

Jan gasped "Oh I hope you don't! Why can't you just go to the hospital right now and get it over with?"

"Because the antibiotics wouldn't work, it's like my white-blood cells are asleep and there's nothing I can do until I'm at my weakest point."

"Can you die from it?'

Coraline thought about it for a moment. And said "I don't know, probably."

"Maybe you should rest." Jan said, putting her wand away. She stood up; feeling a bit dizzy as she did so and said "No, I'm ok! I really want to try this."

"Are you sure?" Jan asked leaning forward to inspect her tired face. "You look tired Coraline."

"I always look tired." She said as she pulled out her wand box from the trunk at the foot of her bed. She drew the wand out of the box and Jan gasped. "It's beautiful!" Coraline told Jan what happened in the shop (Leaving some parts out of course) and twirled the sunset colored wand around her as she finished, causing the sparks to come forth in all colors of the rainbow.

Jan joined in with her wand and a burst of Neon green and gold sparks drew forth. After a while, they got dizzy and sat down on the bed laughing and causing Wendelin to stir from her awkward sleeping position on the edge of the pillow.

Coraline got out "The Standard Book of Spells" (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk and turned to a page that was marked by Coraline's favorite book mark that had a cat on it with the quote "Cats are a mysterious kind of folk." She put the book mark down and read out loud.

_"Chapter Seven: **"Alohomora"**_

_Muggles and Wizards alike have relied on locks for many reasons. While some wizards rely on spells to keep unwanted people out of certain places, most rely on the simple Muggle invention of the lock that allows one to shut the door from either the use of a key or from within the room itself. In such cases where one is found to have no key or way to get inside the "Alohomora" charm is used. Remember that magically locked doors and other things may require a different, stronger spell or perhaps, no spell at all."_

Jan took out her wand and followed the movements on the diagrams shown on the page. It was just a sharp flick but the warning they found on the front of the book spoke in their minds.

_"Warning: For new witches and wizards, who would like to experiment before attending school for proper instruction, make sure to practice the movements first BEFORE reciting the incantations to avoid accidental spell damage. The best way to avoid this would be to have an experienced witch or wizard in the room to assist. In case of spell damage, send an Owl to **Saint Mungo's Hospital: Spell Damage Ward."**_

Both of them didn't want to go to the hospital before school started. So in order to insure that sending an owl wouldn't be necessary; they followed the advice on the book and practiced the movements BEFORE they experimented. Once Jan got the feel of the movement and Coraline compared it to the diagram, they felt that they were ready to try it out. Coraline and Jan walked to the bathroom and she shut herself in with Jan in the hallway.

"Ok Jan!" she called from inside her bathroom "Give it a try, but remember that if anything else happens to tell me if it's safe to come out!"

"OK!" Coraline waited in the bathroom until she heard Jan "_Alohomora!_"

The door clicked and Jan opened the door, a broad smile on her face as Coraline sat cross-legged on the floor. "You did it Jan! Way to go!"

Jan jumped up in excitement as Coraline pulled herself up off the floor. "My turn now." Jan nodded and shut the door behind her.

The instant Coraline heard the door lock; she focused on the movement in her mind. Playing over and over again. She practiced the flick of the wand several times before at last "_Alohomora!_". Nothing happened. She frowned. "It didn't work!" Jan called out from the bathroom.

"I know…" she took her stance again "I'm gonna try again." Coraline preformed the movement again, this time letting she loosened up a little and a satisfying "Click" came from the door.

Coraline grinned. "My first spell!" she thought. Coraline went to open the door but then paused. Think about something her mom use to do.

"What's up Coraline?"

"Hang on Jan, don't open the door yet." she called. "I want to try something. My Mom use to be able to open an unlocked door just by flicking her wand. No incantation. Do you think I could do it?"

There was a pause before Jan opened the door and looked at Coraline. "Not before I get out of the way." She closed the door behind her and stood at her side. She closed her eyes and thought back to her Mom's movement. It was like the wand was pointing at something but it was just a tap of a movement. Coraline casually pointed her wand at the door and without thinking, flicked it.

The door swung open and banged into the wall of the bathroom, Coraline and Jan staggered back a bit at the force of the door but after the door stopped moving, they grinned.

As the days trailed on they managed to get to the point where they could unlock and open the door without really thinking about it, Mr. Taylor came over one night to say thank you to Coraline for helping Jan.

"I went to go kiss her good night" he said to her "And the door just swung open, and there she was just lying on her bed reading a book as if it was nothing new!"

Coraline's own father was impressed with how she managed to learn without a teacher. But he always knew that Coraline had a very good memory when it came to the way someone moved so he was expecting it.

However, as the number of days till the first of September waned, so did Coraline's health and the amount of time she and Jan could practice. Coraline became more irritable and cranky as the full moon approached, it was her least favorite days, dreading the day when she and her father would have to head out for the night and then race to Kings Cross Station with all of her stuff (and Wendelin) the next morning, find the platform where the train was leaving, and get on it before it left.

Finally, with ultimate dread in her heart, August 31st came.

Coraline felt like she had no blood-sugar left in her to move. Her eyes were heavy and her stomach seemed to crave for nothing but meat. But she had to pack.

Coraline stuffed everything into her trunk as best she could. From the robes with the metal (Not silver) fastenings to the books and she even had enough room to put in her favorite Muggle book called "_**Coraline**_".

Just as she locked her trunk, there was a small nock on her bedroom door. "Coraline, it's me."

She sighed. "Come in."

Jan opened the door and watched Coraline as she took Wendelin's cage from a spot at the end of her room and placed it on her trunk that was marked "C.R.M".

"Your Dad said" Jan said softly "that you needed to see me?" Coraline turned around and whistled. "Wen!" The gray owl looked up from the bed, flipped itself up and flew over to Coraline's outstretched arm where it perched itself with its talons softly puncturing her jean jacket.

"I need you to take Wen with you to the station tomorrow." She said to Jan "They don't allow birds at the hospital and I'll barely make it to the station at this rate."

Jan looked at Coraline, and then at Wen. "Ok Coraline." She finally said, holding her arm out in the manner Coraline had. Wen got the message and hopped onto Jan's arm. "I hope you make it." Coraline gave the cage to Jan and nodded. She sat down on her bed as Jan turned around and left with Wendelin. She really hoped that she made it; there would be no hope for her if she didn't. Jan would leave with Wendelin and so Coraline would have no way to contact Hogwarts if she missed the train. If worse came to worse, she and her dad would have to run back to Diagon Alley, buy a rental owl and send it off.

But that was the least of her worries.

Earlier that morning her father came to her with some regretting news. The place where Coraline was going to go was burned down by some wild college kids during their party a few days ago. Professor McGonagall had sent an owl to say that she had taken the liberty of reserving a special ward for Coraline at St. Mungo's. They would be able to heal her cuts and have enough time to get on the train. There was even a tea shop where Mr. McCoy could stay until morning. Though Coraline didn't like the idea of going to a hospital where people knew WHAT she was, she didn't have a choice.

"Coraline" her father's voice came from the door to her bedroom. "It's time."

The journey to the hospital was a blur to Coraline. The upsetting mood mixed with the ill feeling in her every limb caused her to only really have a dim idea of what was going on or where she was heading. It was about an hour after they left with all of Coraline's things that they arrived under circumstances that she couldn't quite remember. All that she knew was that suddenly, she was in a very loud waiting area at a desk. There were people who looked like they had gone and stuck stuff up their nose and others who looked almost drugged and dazed. Then there were people wearing uniforms with an emblem on it that was too far away to see.

"Coraline…" her father whispered to her as she held his hand. Coraline snapped out of her trance and looked up at her father, carrying all her school stuff in the rolling trunk with his other hand clenched around the handle. "This woman is going to take you to your ward for the night." He informed her; she looked around and spotted a thin woman with green eyes that showed no expression. "When you wake up tomorrow, they'll come get me and we can go. Ok?"

Coraline looked up at her father, his eyes tearing up a little like hers, but she was use to it now. She nodded slowly before saying "Make sure you get some sleep Dad."

Her father hugged her as she hugged back, Coraline never wanted to leave his grasp but she knew if she didn't she would hurt him.

"Just remember." He whispered in her ear. "The potions master at school is going to make that potion for you so that you won't hurt yourself. This is the last time something like this will happen."

Coraline nodded, unable to speak again. He let go of her and led her to the woman before letting go of her hand and walking off in the other direction. Coraline looked up at the woman who, now upon closer inspection by Coraline, seemed to be holding back tears of her own.

The woman offered her hand to her and Coraline took it and was led into the dark corridor.

* * *

A few minutes later, deep beneath the hospital, in a room that was empty and bared, Coraline cried as her blood felt the moon appear in the night sky outside. Her muscles ached and her bones seemed to be melting and breaking in every way, her spine was hammered into an odd curve and her skull felt as if it were about to explode.

All the while, thinking of tomorrow and the train ride with Jan to Hogwarts.

"_I'll be ok…_" she thought as she felt her sanity begun to fade "_I'll make it…I know I will._"

* * *

**Please Read and Review! Please????**


	5. The Departure

**Chapter 5**

**The Departure**

* * *

**C**oraline woke up at about 7:50 the next morning thanks to the Healer who guided her the previous night. She was dressed in a hospital gown and taken upstairs to the first floor to be treated for the scratches and bites she inflicted on herself.

Her father was waiting for her. He looked like he didn't get much sleep but he smiled and waved as his daughter limped into the ward. As the healers gave her a potion and asked her father questions, Coraline looked at a hand mirror that was lying on the table.

She really did a number on herself last night by the looks of it. A cut was curved on her nose and a few new long red claw marks went down her neck. By looking at herself, she found no less than 14 new injuries, which she knew at least 2 of those would last a life time.

She was particularly worried about the bite mark on her left hand. She wondered how she was going to explain that to anyone if it became a scar; After about an hour, Coraline and her father walked out of the ward, both hoping to never come back for any reason. As they exited through the ground floor, Coraline felt that all eyes were on her; the wizards and witches that were waiting for aid turned to follow her movements with their uncomforting eyes. She did her best not to look at any of them as she walked out.

After figuring out where they were, and where Kings Cross Station was, a short trip through the underground led them to the station where Coraline first spotted the problem on her ticket.

"Uh…Dad? This says platform 9 3/4's."

Her father took the ticket from her hand and looked at it. Both of his eyebrows shot up. "Platform 9 3/4's." he said under his breath. Both of them looked around for an indication of where the platform might be. They saw the entrance to platforms 9, 10 and 11, but no indication of a ¾'s.

Coraline had never seen a train in her life. She looked around at all the stations and the people in suits that passed by, clutching their brief-cases as if it held gold inside. Attendants crowed around a slightly confused looking group of American's (Whom Coraline could have SWORN been the same group she encountered on the Underground just two weeks earlier.) whom apparently had lost a kid in the winding tunnels of the Underground and were asking for an "all-call" for her.

As they made their way to the platforms marked 9 and 10, Coraline bit her lip. She was aching all over and felt like she was going to throw up at any given moment. Her cuts, although most had gone away thanks to the healers, stung underneath the bandages as she moved around but her resolve to find the train was unbeatable. As far as she was concerned, not even death could stop her from finding the platform and getting on that train.

They stood outside the gate to the two platforms, looking around for any indication on a magical item, someone with an owl on their cart. ANYTHING! But there was nothing to be seen but two plastic numbers on either side of a brick wall. One saying "9" the other "10".

Coraline, feeling sore walked over to the brick wall and leaned against it for support as her Dad read the card and looked around for the seventh time. She was caught off guard and yelped as she fell flat on her back instead of slightly leaning against something.

She rolled over on the hard floor and recovered from the shock as she lay facing a scarlet red train. Above it, just barley in her visible view was a sign that read "Platform 9 3/4's "Hogwarts Express" 11:00"

Coraline pushed herself off the ground and moved out of the way of the apparent "door" just in time for her father to come rushing through with her luggage trailing with him. He had apparently closed his eyes because he almost kept going and he had stopped just in time to avoid falling onto the tracks.

He looked at Coraline with the same expression she had when she discovered the platform. Then, he looked back at the wall. Soon after, a young blond girl in pigtails came rushing through with a gray owl on her cart along with her trunk marked "J.E.T"

"JAN!" She yelled just in time to stop her best friend from running into her father. Jan turned her cart around and smiled at her.

"Coraline! You made it!" The two hugged as Mr. and Mrs. Taylor followed through and looked at the somewhat beat up-looking girl.

Jan had obviously noticed after they stopped hugging and Coraline picked up a sleeping Wendelin off her cart and placed it on her own.

"Coraline what happened to you? I thought the trip to the hospital was supposed to make you better not make you look like you just got attacked by a wild animal."

Coraline rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment and panic. "The treatment usually takes longer." She "admitted". "I kind of left a little early when I wasn't supposed to."

"Coraline!" Jan shook her head as Coraline laughed. They began walking towards the train with both parents engaged in their own conversation. "Sorry I wanted to get here." She managed to get out. "If I didn't leave then, they would have never let me go."

Coraline's stomach growled. Both of the girls stopped as they looked around to find that they were the only ones present at the moment. The parents seemed to notice this too.

"I take it you didn't have time to eat yet huh?" Jan asked.

Coraline shook her head. "We can't leave now though. What if we can't get back? What if this ticket is like a one way sort of thing?"

"Coraline, calm down. My parents are always early birds and we usually skip breakfast so they packed me a snack. Do you want to sit down and eat? We got plenty of time, it's only nine twenty."

They went over to the back wall, where a perfect view of the train could be seen and sat down on the floor of the station to eat some sandwiches as they waited for time to pass. With anticipation and almost nervousness in the air, the two witches quietly munched away and watched for more of their fellow students to follow; the parents talking to themselves about their daughters.

"Oh, well we never really wanted any more kids." Mr. Taylor said. "Jan was always the only one we had in mind, but now that she's going away for so long, the place will feel a bit bear without her."

Both of the girls lowered their sandwiches and looked at their parents. It never dawned upon Coraline that by going to Hogwarts, which was a boarding school not a day school like Mirage Academy was, she wouldn't see him until Christmas that was four months away. He would be in the flat by himself, working hard and then coming back to no one until summer. And it seemed that Jan had only just realized the same thing. With the last bit of food devoured, both Jan and Coraline walked over to the adults and casually hugged their respecting parent(s).

Coraline stayed close to her father as he continued to talk. The thought had never occurred to her before; a lot of things were bound to happen in four months, not to mention the six that followed, including her birthday in March. The feeling of fear had crept into Coraline's already weakened body, what if something bad happened to him and she couldn't get to him? What if while she was at school he died? What if this was the last time she would see him? Coraline looked up at her father's face and forced her tired brain to remember everything about him. The sound of his voice, the way his red mustache seemed to be made of really thick hairs. She suddenly didn't want to go now. The fear of losing her only family made her take root at the spot she stood.

And yet, as she realized the time and noticed all the kids that had slowly accumulated around them, she moved towards the train with her Dad only lightly holding her hand.

Coraline knew that "no" was not an option for her anymore now that she had committed herself to it. She would never forgive herself if she turned tail and went back home now. All the time and effort that it took to getting here wasn't going to be wasted.

Even if it meant, leaving her father behind and alone she knew that he would make her go and "not worry about him, he's a grown man" sort of deal. But she couldn't help but feel afraid that she may never see him again. They both walked down the platform and looked for a way in that wasn't crowded with students, there were people hugging and others yelling to grab attention of others. There were owls, cats, frogs and an odd assortment of other animals that Coraline couldn't identify.

There were so many people but she hardly spotted anyone that looked to be in their year; she was so caught up in looking around that she didn't look at where she was going and failed to get out of the way of a boy with turquoise hair pushing his cart at a run. They both collided with a deafening CRASH and both were flung onto the floor, the owls they carried rolled away from their carts and the pair were lying on the floor of the platform. The boy was positioned awkwardly over Coraline. He instantly noticed this and rolled off to retrieve his owl before offering a hand to the surprised girl.

"I'm sorry!" Coraline said as she was pulled up by the boy. "I didn't see you, did you get hurt?"

The boy dusted himself off and looked up at her with unnatural amber eyes and a short nose. "Yeah, it's just a scratch. No harm done." He frowned "Can't say the same for you though, are you feeling alright? You look like you just-"

"Teddy!" Came a voice from behind the boy. A man with messy jet black hair and glasses emerged from the crowd and walked up to the boy. Eyes followed the man with amazement and awe as if he was a king or something. Coraline spotted Wendelin near her feet and propped her back up on her trunk.

"Teddy R. Lupin there was no need to run off like that!" The man said with a stern look as he scolded the boy. Jan, who had lagged behind with her parents, slowly moved to take Coraline's side. "I hope you apologized to-"the man stopped short as he glanced at Coraline, then suddenly, he blinked, shook his head and finished "to-to this young lady?"

"Hey I know you!" her Dad suddenly spoke up. "You're Harry Potter!"

Coraline raised an eyebrow and leaned in to Jan "Who?" she whispered.

"The guy mentioned on the card with Ronald Weasley?" she reminded "The one who helped him defeat that dark wizard with the really hard name?"

Coraline shot a look back up to the man, and back to Jan "You mean he knows some really powerful wizard?"

"No, it means he IS a powerful wizard." The boy called Teddy leaned over his cart and mock-whispered. "I've been living in America, give me a break you blue haired weirdo!" Coraline snapped back.

"Coraline. R. McCoy, that is no way to talk to anyone!"

Coraline jumped at her father's tone of voice; the kind of tone that would make anyone think twice about crossing them. She turned away from Teddy to look at his expression, a glint in his eyes made Coraline instantly turn back to the boy.

"I'm sorry…" she said sincerely to him, before taking an interest in the colors in Wendelin's feathers. After a few moments of silence, the two adults turned back to each other.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Potter." Her father apologized. "My daughter's got my wife's hot headed-ness. I believe that she had the pleasure of being taught by you in her seventh year during the-ah…." Her father snapped his fingers and frowned trying to remember just what it was.

"Dumbledore's Army?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Yeah! That's what it was called! She said that the meetings were secret and to know when they were scheduled, they had a fake Galleon with a powerful spell placed on them so that they showed the date of the lessons." He suddenly reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a single, shining, gold coin. "I never leave the house without it."

Mr. Potter smiled. "I haven't seen one of those in years." He said as he examined the numbers on the coin. "Who is your wife?"

"My wife was in Ravenclaw, her name was Adrian Bell. Do you remember her? Tall, brown hair, short fuse, particularly fond of spells that give after affects that (and I quote) "give them something to think about"?"

"Yes I remember Adrian! I DID hear she got married during the intense half of the war and left for America a few months before it was over. How is she doing?"

Mr. McCoy's face fell and Coraline turned away.

"Oh, I see…" he said solemnly "I know that you must feel tired of hearing this, but I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Mr. Potter, I'm use to it by now. But there are things I'd like to chat with you about after they've left." He pointed to the kids that crowded around them. Coraline looked up and saw something in his expression that told her that she wasn't suppose to hear this conversation for a reason.

Before Mr. Potter could open his mouth the train whistle blew and the crowd of kids ran to the train, wishing their parents the best of wishes and producing last minute hugs as they hoisted their heavy trunks onto the locomotive.

Coraline looked back at the clock behind her; they had only five minutes left before the train would leave! It shocked her in how much time had passed, she needed to get her luggage on and find a compartment before it was too late!

Teddy and Jan both sensed the urgency and ran to the train, their respective adults following them, giving them last minute advices. "Now remember Coraline" her own father said as they neared the door. "This is a school but it's also your home. I want you to behave, study and PLEASE don't get into any fights when someone doesn't agree with you! I packed some extra medical tape in your trunk and oh and before I forget here's some money" Her father handed Coraline a small brown pouch that jingled with heavy coins, "Just in case you decide to get anything that's available when you're at school!"

"Ok, Dad, I know!" Coraline yelled through the noise, putting the pouch in the pocket of her jeans as she leapt onto the train. Her father passing up her heavy trunk with her. Coraline didn't have time to hug her Dad again, Jan and Teddy and other kids were lining up at the door. She dragged her trunk down the train, after dropping Wendelin off with the conductor nearby who requested not for her to take her owl on the train, where older kids crowded the halls, shoving into compartments and quickly taking the empty ones.

Coraline hoped that there wouldn't be a fight on the train over the free compartments. She didn't know any magic yet and she didn't feel comfortable fighting in such a small space. As she slowly made her way down the train, looking into compartments for an empty one, she caught conversations that were in motion.

"I didn't even think that there would be any first years this time!" said a teenage boy with brown hair in one compartment "The war was too intense! How could ANYONE even THINK about having a kid during those years?!" Another conversation, one that was between a tall, black-haired girl and a short boy. ("Dill, you have GOT to stop following me around. JUST because I'm your big sister DOES NOT mean that I'm going to babysit you! You're thirteen years old for Merlin's sake!" "But Mum and Dad told you to watch after me!" "Oh Dillin!")

Coraline continued to push through the line and go down the train. Finally, she reached one at the very back of the train, the last compartment, its single occupant sat near the window on the right side, looking out woefully with his hand against his chin. She opened the door and the dirty-blond haired boy turned to her, his blue eyes looked as if he had been crying. "Excuse me" Coraline said politely "Can I sit here? Every other room is full."

The boy nodded, but didn't move his body from the position he had it in, his elbow propped against the side of the window. He turned back to look outside as she moved her trunk into the compartment. The train heaved, and Coraline let the trunk lay at the entrance, sticking out into the hallway just WAITING for someone to trip over it. She didn't care; she stood up on the seat opposite the boy and moved the window down to let the noise of the parents that followed the train saying their goodbye's grace her ears. A young red-headed girl was chasing after the locomotive, trying to see where someone was, her eyes scanning the windows in turn. A tall man with brown hair was giving his son one last "High Five" before lagging behind into the crowd.

Coraline stuck her head out and looked around for her father as the train continued to move, its speed slowly increasing. From a few feet away, she spotted his red thinning hair; he was looking around for Coraline though the windows.

"DAD!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, grabbing his attention. He ran faster to catch up with her as the train began to near the end of the platform. "Alright Coraline!" he cried, grabbing his daughter's outstretched hand. "This is it! Be a good girl and study hard! Send me an owl as soon as you get there ok?"

Coraline bit her lip and called back "I will! I love you Dad!"

"I love you too, Coraline!" He finally let go, he had run out of platform and the train was going too fast for him. She looked back and waved "GOODBYE DAD!" she yelled, but her call was overpowered by the whistle of the train as it began to turn a corner. Coraline saw her father mouthing something and waving back, the car turned the corner and he was gone.

Coraline stood with her head out the window, her red hair that stuck out from underneath her gray hat blew in the wind as she continued looking back at Kings Cross Station as it slowly moved away. Unseen by Muggles the train moved on a lone track that was near the outskirts of London she saw kids in the distance, skipping their first day of school and hanging out one last time at a place where the adults couldn't find them. One particular kid, that they nearly missed, a short seven year old in a privet school uniform with scraps over his knees and elbows a cut on his cheek and seemed to have been crying before the train appeared, looked up at the train with wide, brown eyes as it passed, as if he had never seen a train before in his life. Coraline waved at the boy, and the boy waved back, a broad smile growing on his face as he waved more enthusiastically.

Then, Coraline saw a gray tunnel obscuring and clouding her vision. It seemed to close in on the boy like the end of a Loony toons cartoon, her ears felt like there was something coming out of them that was hot. The boy was eclipsed by the darkness and quite suddenly she found herself being lifted onto the long seat in a position that made her look as if she were ready to be buried. A voice seemed to be calling out to her as she began to come out of the gray tunnel and begin to see dim outlines of people she thought she knew.

"Coraline! Coraline, can you hear me?"

The voice was Jan's voice.

"Jan?" Coraline mumbled out as she slowly moved her aching body upwards, blinking to get her vision back as someone pushed her back down to lie on the make-shift bed.

"You're not getting up until you get some sugar in your system." Said a boy that sounded in his mid-teen years. Coraline did as she was told and lied back down, waiting for her vision to slowly clear up. "Whut appund?" she managed to slur out of her barely working mouth as she desperately tried to gain energy. Coraline didn't want to be fussed over the whole trip, it took out the fun of her first train ride that way.

Coraline's vision cleared and along with Jan, Teddy and the blond haired boy looking at her, a teenager had with a pointy nose and black hat with glasses on the hook of his nose, studied her carefully. Coraline glanced at his robes that were trimmed with a yellow color and saw that a badge pinned to his chest with the letter "P" on it.

"Well, it seems you'll be alright now." He said, standing up and handing something to the unknown boy. "As soon as she feels up to it, make her eat this, if anything else happens don't hesitate to come and get me ok Jimmy? I'll be up at the front."

"Thank you Billy!" he called after the boy as he turned and stepped out of the compartment and into the hall.

Coraline sat up and leaned against the wall for support. She was in a cold sweat was shaking violently as the fog in her mind began to clear up she realized that she had passed out; most likely from the exhaustion she had been walking around with all morning. She had started to recover thanks to the sandwich but then Teddy collided into her, she ran and leapt and tugged and pulled and wasted her energy until her body just couldn't keep up with her day.

She breathed in deep and let it go through her mouth; it was the breathing exercise her father taught her after months of problems with fighting the exhaustion before and after the full moon. In normal cases, Coraline would have stayed in bed for the entire day but today wasn't a normal day.

"You scared us." Said the blond boy called Jimmy as he sat down in the chair opposite Coraline. "When these two came into the compartment you suddenly collapsed on the floor and started twitching I thought you were having one of those "Seizures"."

Coraline wiped the cold sweat from beneath her hat and shakily looked up at Jan who was still holding on to her at her side. "Lucky for us that Prefect was patrolling the train and saw your case sticking out otherwise he would have thought that all was well, but he came in here, wondering what the commotion was and saw you in the state that you were."

"What's up with you?" Said Teddy, the boy with the turquoise hair standing by the door, getting his trunk into the compartment with a grunt. "I know you didn't look good after I ran into you on the platform but I didn't think it was that bad."

Coraline looked away as Jimmy shoved something into her hand before turning around and sitting back in his chair. "I don't want to talk about it." She muttered, truly not having the energy to spin her web of lies at the moments. She shoved the object into her mouth and began to chew, what turned out to be part of a chocolate frog, over and over again.

"That's ok Coraline, you just rest." Jan said, patting her on the back softly. "You don't have to answer any questions he gives you."

"You got something against me?" Teddy stormed up to Jan with fists clenched. Coraline looked around for her trunk and spotted it placed underneath where she sat. Jan stood up, whipping out her wand from her coat pocket. "I will if you don't shut up. You almost ran over her at the platform, she just got out of the hospital, she doesn't need to go back."

Coraline had opened her trunk under the observation of Jimmy, who was turning his head from her to the heating conversation between the two.

"Out of the hospital? It looks like she got attacked by a wild animal!"

"She has a blood disease!"

"What exactly IS that "Disease"? Lycanthropy?"

Coraline froze. Her hand hung in mid air that reached for the lid of her trunk, with her robes and her wand bundled up in her other arm. She began to shake uncontrollably, suddenly feeling cold once again. Though Jan had carried on and not noticed this, Coraline couldn't help but panic. If this boy, with no schooling could guess that, she was in trouble. Even though she was invited to the school it wasn't something she would like to be made public knowledge just yet. For all she knew, this place could be just as bad as America.

"Guys, look." Jimmy said suddenly.

The bickering stopped and Coraline was seen frozen in mid-action, shaking like a leaf, now unable to move in the slightest bit. Petrified by pure fear.

The silence was unbearable. Coraline, as shaky as she was, stood up and pushed the two apart so she could walk out the door and to the bathrooms to change and to hide.

She went down the train, eyes full of tears she was straining to push back until she reached a small little hole she could crawl in and die. Slipping through older kids who were looking around for friends and passed compartments where friends talked about their summer, Coraline did her best to be invisible and to pretend like she didn't exist until she reached the bathroom at the front of the train at last. She closed the door and locked it before taking the fetal position with her back against the wall of the small room. Her face buried in her arms.

A boy had just given away her secret to her best and only friend, who Coraline was sure, she had lost.

* * *

**Tell me how I'm doing! I can't make this a great story without your criticism! (Hahaha) Read and Review!**


	6. The Family Feud

**Chapter 6**

**The Family Feud **

* * *

**A**fter hiding in the bathroom for a good thirty minutes, people started to knock on the door for her to get out. Quietly, with a red face that gleamed crystal tears, Coraline got dressed into her school robes and took off her hat, the black cloak that went with it covered her bare legs and hid the scars. She would have to talk to someone at the school about making acceptations to allow her to wear the boy standard uniform instead of the girl's which came with a skirt.

It didn't really matter to her at the time she opened the door and let the black haired girl with green trimmed robes in to the bathroom, because her only friend had been told by a blue haired jerk that nearly ran her over, that she was a werewolf: A monster. She was sure that Jan would get scared and never want to speak to her again. Coraline understood though; she had lied to Jan about her health and didn't warn her about what she was. It was understandable that she would distance herself from her and they would only speak when it came to homework and asking about Wendelin.

It tore Coraline up as she walked down the long, empty hallway down the train, her eyes glued to the floor she walked on and felt the path of the tears on her face move down her chin to know that she had lost her best friend.

Probably, now that Coraline looked back on her empty life, her only friend.

As she neared the last compartment she slowed to a stop. Should she go back and explain to Jan? Or should she just wait in the back of the car with the owls until they arrived? Did Jan even want to see her again?

Before she could make up her mind, the door opened up and Jan leaned into the hallway with a smile on her face, her eyes gleaming. "What are you waiting out here for? Come on!" She grabbed Coraline's hand and dragged her back inside the compartment. She, still weak from the crying and her own exhaustion, staggered and fell on the floor, her head missing her trunk by mere millimeters.

"We were about to go and check up on you." Said Teddy, dressed in his robes along with Jimmy and Jan. "But it looks like you toughed it out on your own. That's good."

"Sorry that we argued, Coraline. We shouldn't have done that, you've barely had any sleep and-what happened to your legs?"

Coraline didn't need to look down; the scars on her legs from all the self-induced pain the werewolf gave her shown as bright as day to the three occupants of the compartment at the end of the train. But she had started to shake again, her heart gave the biggest sigh of relief she had ever known. "_They don't know_" she thought "_They thought I ran out because of their arguing, I'm safe._"

"Coraline?" Jan walked over to her and waved her hand in front of her eyes. "Jan to Coraline, come in Coraline!" Coraline shook her head and scrunched her eyes. "S-Sorry Jan." she apologized, her voice shaking "I've still got to be tired."

"Well sit down then, no need to waist your energy standing up." Coraline smiled at her friend, the most wonderful feeling spreading on the inside as she took her seat next to the window as Jan sat next to her. Teddy took his spot opposite the girls and sat down next to Jimmy. Just as he did the compartment door opened and the boy Jimmy called Billy was back

"Everything alright here?" He asked the group "Not arguing any more are we?" The three kids around Coraline shook their heads.

"Oh, Coraline." He turned toward her. "The food cart should be coming down here soon; do you have money to buy something with?" She nodded and took out a brown pouch, untied the drawstrings, and tipped it over. Several, fat, heavy gold coins fell into her hand like raindrops; the clinking sound they made was music to her ears and she enjoyed the feel of the coin beneath her finger tips. "Woah." Billy said, looking at Coraline along with Jan and Jimmy over the gold in her hand. After a while he nodded and said "Yeah that will probably be enough to buy about half the cart. Good to see your parents thought to give you some money before you left."

"My Dad always thinks ahead." Coraline poured the coins into the pouch one by one, enjoying the way they chimed as they knocked together. "But don't tell him that, it will go to his ego."

Billy laughed as Jan chuckled. "Well if you lot have any more problems I'll be up at the front." He waved at Jimmy before taking off again, leaving the door open. Jan rolled her eyes, took out her wand and moved it in a sliding fashion, causing the door to slide shut.

"How did you do that?" Teddy looked to the door and back to Jan, her wand still in her hand. She shrugged and said "Practice."

"No fair." Teddy crossed his arms and looked at Jimmy with a similar reaction on his face. "My grandmother didn't let me practice at all when I got my wand. She said "_Teddy, I will NOT have you doing magic without proper instruction first. The last thing I want to happen is to take you to Saint Mungo's for irreversible spell damage before you get on the train." _How come your parents aren't so paranoid about you two practicing magic before school?"

"That's easy" Jan said "It's because they don't know what the heck we're doing. They're Muggles."

That was it for them. Their jaws dropped on the floor and it was only when Coraline began to take out her wand did they speak again. "So, let me get this straight" Teddy leaned forward. "You two girls are Muggleborn's who have been practicing magic in a Muggle populated area and you're able to learn because your parents don't have a clue what you're doing because their Muggles?"

"Actually" Coraline interrupted "I'm half Muggle on my Dad's side, my Mom was a witch." Coraline removed her wand carefully from her robes and inspected her wand. Jan nudged Coraline after a few moments of the compartment being silent to notice that Teddy's mouth was still open. "You're half witch and yet you don't know who Harry Potter is?"

"She WHAT?" Jimmy asked Teddy.

"Guys give her a break" Jan pointed her wand at them from across the room; some stray purple sparkles came from the tip as it moved back and forth. "She's an American. It's not her fault she doesn't know who's famous in the wizarding world over here."

"Actually Jan, I'm not American."

"I thought you said you were." Jan turned back to her and frowned.

"No, I said I grew up in America." Coraline corrected. But then she thought about a story her Dad told her and quickly added "Actually, I'm not sure what I am, I was kind of born in mid-flight from England to America."

"Really?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah. Mom and Dad had just left England and were heading over to America to get away from some war and Mom started to go into labor about an hour after we started going over the ocean. I was born a few hours later on the plane before we even started to fly over land. My Dad still needed to go to medical school but he got crash course training in emergency delivery thanks to me."

Teddy whistled and Jan made an "ooooh!" sound that caused Coraline to giggle. "I had no idea, Coraline. I thought you were American."

"I got a question though." Jimmy responded "If your Mum was a witch, why didn't she use floo powder or at least wait until you were born to leave?"

Before Coraline could ask what "Floo Powder" was, Teddy replied "Well the Floo networks were being watched by Voldemort (Coraline and Jan watched as Jimmy shuttered slightly.) and we haven't been titled the "Miracle Class" for nothing."

"The Miracle Class?"

"There are not many kids in our year because of the war. Mothers who were carrying children at the time were an ideal target for blackmail to get more people on his side. Those families who refused to join died and those whom managed to escape lived, any of us with magical parents are considered to be a miracle. Many people thought that this year's whole class would be made up entirely of Muggleborns…Not that that's a bad thing Jan."

Jan rolled her eyes and continued to make a circle of sparks in the air with the edge of her wand.

"Teddy?" Coraline spoke. "Who's Harry Potter and who's Voldemort?" Coraline noticed Jimmy shuttered again but before Teddy could open his mouth the compartment door slid open again. This time an elderly woman stood in the door and she was pushing a cart that she could only assume, was food.

"Anything off the cart dears?" she asked. Coraline turned to Jan "Do you want anything?" She asked, knowing that she didn't have any money with her. "No Coraline I'm fine."

"Don't be silly." Coraline rose up and skipped towards the colorful cart, taking out her money pouch from her robes. "You gave me a sandwich; I would have never survived Teddy running into me if you didn't let me have some. It's on me come on."

Coraline looked down and saw the chocolate frogs along with some Jelly been candy titled "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans", Pumpkin Pasties, Caldron Cakes, Black Pepper Imps, Licorice Wands, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Ice Mice, bottles of something called "Butter Beer" and for some odd reason, Lemon Drops. Coraline found herself missing the old Muggle candies, like Jawbreakers and Hershey Chocolate and now she knew why Jan insisted on not getting anything. But having never tried anything on the cart (Save for the chocolate frogs) and after asking if it was legal to have "Butter Beer", Coraline bought a little of everything. The total amount spent was roughly 2 Galleons, 14 Sickles and 20 Knuts.

However, after taking everything off that she had purchased, the witch told her that because she paid in Galleons, she needed her change back. Coraline outstretched her hand to retrieve her 3 Sickles and 9 Knuts and as she saw the first coin fall from the witch's hand to hers, she quickly dropped it and all the silver and bronze coins fell on the floor with Coraline clutching the hand in pain that the first silver sickle had touched, causing her to let the coins drop to the floor all at once.

She quickly put her hand in her robe and apologized for dropping the coins. The witch said it was all right and told them that if they wanted anything else that she would be up front with the conductor before she began to walk backwards, taking the cart with her to the front.

As soon as the witch was gone, Coraline turned around and rushed to her trunk that was still placed beneath her seat, leaving the money on the floor. Her father said something about their being extra medical tape in there; her hand felt like it was burning thanks to the silver the witch handed back to her. Now she knew why there were only Galleons in the pouch and why he packed the tape.

"Umm, Coraline?" Coraline heard Jan behind her as her hand finally clasped around the medical tape at the bottom of her trunk. She turned around and shut the lid as Jan stood behind her, her hand clenched with the money she had picked up off the floor. Coraline looked up at her face and saw that Jan was frowning slightly; no doubt confused at her friend's actions.

"You keep the change, Jan." Coraline said, locking her trunk. "I don't like to carry spare stuff."

Jan placed the coins in her pocket as Coraline sat back in her seat, next to the large pile of candy she bought, and began to apply the medical tape to her hand. "What happened to your hand, Coraline?"

Coraline thought quickly about what to say, she had to give a good, believable reason why she was wrapping her hand up in medical tape other then the fact that she couldn't touch silver. She felt her wand nudge her side as she shifted positions in her seat so that her feet were propped on top of her trunk that served as a footstool, giving her an idea.

"Oh, it's nothing." She said "When I reached for the money my hand must have brushed the tip of my wand and the sparks kind of hurt my hand, it was just an accident."

"Ow" Jan said as she picked up a chocolate frog, eyeing it suspiciously. Coraline stopped wrapping the tape around her hand and looked up at the boys, almost drooling at the sight of the candy. She sighed. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Dig in."

In the time it took Coraline to finish wrapping her hand and putting the tape in the pocket of her robes, 3 chocolate frogs, a box of black pepper imps, 2 Licorice Wands, a Pumpkin Pasty and the ice mice had been devoured by the apparently starving boys. Jan had just started on opening the box of "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans" when Teddy warned them with a mouth crammed full of a bite of Caldron Cake "Be careful you two. When they say "every flavor" THEY MEAN EVERY FLAVOR." Coraline, who had just opened one of the two bottles of Butterbeer and was beginning to reach inside the box, looked at Teddy with a blank face.

"Really?"

Teddy nodded, looking very silly with his cheeks full. He swallowed and said "You get the regular flavors like "Green Apple" "Strawberry" and "Orange"." He put a small bite of a licorice wand in his mouth before continuing "And then you get the cool flavors like "Pasta" and "Mint Ice Cream" but then there are also the weird and nasty flavors like "Ear Wax" "Pus" and even "Vomit"."

Coraline took her hand out of the box with a small white bean in her hand with golden brown spots all over it. She put it in her mouth and found that it tasted similar to a toasted marshmallow.

Before she could look through the box for another bean though that looked like a reasonable one, Jimmy spoke up from his corner. "So, what house do you think you'll be in Coraline?"

Coraline bit into a blue one with brown spots and instantly spat it out on to the floor as soon as she realized it tasted like dirty water. "House?" she asked after she took a drink of Butterbeer from the almost empty bottle.

"Oh that's right." He smacked himself on his forehead with his palm "There are four houses at Hogwarts; each house is kind of like a team or a family. You sleep in the dormitory that are assigned to your house, you go to the common room for your free time and you get signed up for classes with your housemates in your year."

"There's also a point system" Teddy added "where the house with the most points at the end of the year wins the house cup. You get points by doing good things in class like getting a spell rights the first time or showing responsibility in the halls. But then you can also loose points by breaking the rules. In addition to the point system being a cause for rivalry against the houses, the house also has its own Quidditch team, but after all that we've had to tell you two, you wouldn't know about that ether."

"Most magical families tend to stay in the same house through the generations. The Weasley family had all seven of their kids put in Gryffindor while the Malfoys are famous for being in Slytherin. There's really no-"

"Hang on Jim, we lost them." Teddy interrupted upon looking at the faces of the two witches. Coraline had lost what he was talking about after Teddy started to mention some sort of team that she could SWEAR she'd heard of before.

"So what have you got so far?" he asked them

"We got that there are four houses." Jan reported "They act like a family and determine where you sleep and when your classes are. There's also a game that seems to go on for the entire year that shows at the end of term which house did the best job and there's some sort of sport involved with creating prejudice against people in other houses."

"Wow that's pretty good Jan." Coraline complemented. "But what are the houses?"

"The houses are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor." Teddy answered "In a nut-shell Ravenclaw's for the smart kids, Hufflepuff is for the loyal kids, Gryffindor gets the brave ones and Slytherin is the evil house."

"That's not nice to say." Jan commented.

"It's actually the truth." Teddy said, his face not showing the slightest hint of sarcasm. "There isn't a single witch or wizard who's been placed in Slytherin that hasn't gone bad. Voldemort was in Slytherin and his doing killed thousands of wizards and witches against his war on Muggleborns like you Jan."

Jan bit her lip and turned to stare out the window where the sky was beginning to darken. The question "_What was the war about?_" was on the tip of her tongue but she pushed it back. For some odd reason, something deep inside her mind told her that that information wasn't for her to know about just yet. She opened up another chocolate frog instead and shoved the chocolate in her mouth (The card turning out to be another "Merlin") when the door opened.

In the door way stood a brown-headed boy with a black haired girl standing behind him. Both of them showed nasty expressions on their faces and looked at the boy in the corner. Jim recoiled at the sight of them and Coraline felt the air change to make her inch her hand to her pocket where her wand was.

"James" said the boy "What are you doing with this tripe? We've been waiting for you."

Jim tried to speak but he could only fall back into his corner as the two walked in, their feet stepped on the wrappers that littered the floor.

"Leave him alone." Teddy stood up, his wand out in the open. "He doesn't want to go with you two, he's happier here with us."

Coraline watched the boy's eyes narrow at him, the girl looking at Jan with an expression that she was going to do something very awful to her. "Touch any of them and I'll hurt you." Teddy spoke up to the girl. She turned around taking out her wand and pointing it directly underneath his chin.

"You got something to say?"

Coraline couldn't take it anymore; with a quick swish she stood up and had her wand out at the ready. She didn't care if she didn't know any spells, she wanted them gone, and they made her feel uncomfortable and angry at their rudeness "Lighten up jerk." She growled. The girl dropped her guard and the boy glance around his shoulder at her with a raised eyebrow. "Just because Jim isn't with you guys doesn't mean that you have the right to call us names and threaten us like you're so high and mighty."

"An American?!" the girl's head snapped back to Jim, he winced and continued to shrink into a ball in his corner. "You leave your cousin's to hang out with an American, a Traitor-"the girl turned around to point her wand to Jan, "and a Mudblood?"

Coraline got the impression that she had just said something very nasty because Teddy dropped his wand and collided his fist into her face. She rolled into the seat next to Jan, who sprang up, ran out of the compartment and up the train. The boy picked the girl up and began to run towards the door, the girl ran up the train, clutching her nose but the boy turned back around to face the group.

"You'll regret hanging with these gutter vermin, Kirk. Mark my words, you and your brother will live to regret it!" and he slammed the door shut.

Coraline bit her lip, regretful that she didn't have the energy or the knowledge to hurt ether of the two, but she vowed that as soon as she learned how to use a hex, she would practice it on them. She pocketed her wand just in time as Jan came back with Billy, the prefect from earlier, who went over to Jim and knelt down.

"Jimmy, are you ok?" Billy looked at Jim through his glasses as he slowly nodded. He sighed and looked up at Teddy and Coraline, who were still standing up. "As a brother I thank you for defending Jimmy from those two." He stood up to look down at Teddy, his wand still out. "As a prefect though, I'm forced to report you two to the Headmistress upon our arrival."

Coraline's throat went dry. She hadn't even reached Hogwarts and she was already in trouble. It wasn't fair; she was just doing what was right! Those kids would have hurt Jim if she didn't speak up! Oh, what was her father going to say to her now?

"Don't bring Coraline into this, sir." Teddy spoke, "She just told them off, I'm the one that threw the punch."

"If I had the energy Teddy." Coraline confessed "I would have hurt them too, I'm not gonna lie." She wasn't going to let Teddy have all the blame, if she let him get all of it then she'd feel guilty about it later and then she would never be able to sleep right until she made it up to him.

Her Dad often did hard things by himself like setting up the shed in the back yard or painting the living room and when she couldn't help she felt bad that he worked all day for her and yet she couldn't do anything for him. She wasn't going to let Teddy do that to her, it was one and only thing Coraline actually looked forward to upon leaving her Dad behind, and even then she felt guilty about that.

Billy looked at the group, then to his brother who was looking up at him with adoring blue eyes. He sighed, "Well, Emily DID take her wand out first and used inappropriate language. I'm sure you were just defending yourselves weren't you?" he turned to Coraline and Teddy in turn, a peculiar look in his eyes made Coraline catch on.

"Right…" she nodded with Teddy.

Billy smiled before walking back towards the door, turning around again to look at Jim. "Don't let them get you down Jim, as far as we're concerned we're not related to them in the slightest and they're jealous of you." Jim nodded with a soft smile on his face before Billy turned and closed the door behind him.

Coraline heaved a sigh of relief and dropped into her seat along with Teddy and Jan who followed her action. There was silence in the car for a few minutes, giving Coraline time to think.

Those two had called Jan "Mudblood", Coraline didn't know what that meant but she knew that it wasn't good at all. Those two had something against Jim and her being an American. And why did they call Teddy a "Traitor"?

"Who were those two jerks?" Coraline found herself thinking aloud. "Emily and Victor Worthing" he swallowed "my cousins." Jim said so softly that she was sure she was the only one to hear it clearly.

"Your cousins?" Coraline asked in skepticism "They didn't act very friendly for being family."

Jim turned to look out the now blackened sky with a saddened face. Teddy rolled his eyes at Coraline. "This is exactly what I was saying about Slytherin house." He said "Most Slytherin families pressure kids into being rude to all others who don't fit their standards. They're prejudice against everything: Different houses, Muggle-borns, werewolves, half borns, and so called "Blood Traitors" like my parents were. They joined in the fight against Voldemort so that makes them "Traitors"."

"Teddy, what's a "Mudblood?" Jan asked, her voice shaking slightly. Teddy swallowed before saying "It's like a dirty word…It's used by "Pureblood" families like those two who say that Muggleborns have "Dirty Blood" and shouldn't be allowed into the community. It's a big insult."

Jan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "Thank you…for knocking the daylights out of her." Teddy waved. "No problem."

Coraline continued to look at Jim, who smiled at Jan. Teddy looked out the window and asked "So, suppose one of us DOES get sorted into Slytherin…You think we'll still be friends?"

"Friends?" Coraline blinked, she hadn't thought about that before. She really didn't consider the boy who nearly ran her over to be a friend. His cocky attitude ticked her off somewhat and she didn't quite know him well enough. Teddy nodded at Coraline "Yeah, friends." He repeated. "At this point I don't really care what house we get in, I still want to get to know you guys."

"I get the feeling" Jan interrupted "that you just want us to hang out with you because all of us together seem to annoy them."

Teddy smiled smugly "That's another aspect of it, yeah."

Coraline rolled her eyes. "Are you out of your mind? That's just the kind of stuff that sets the houses apart you know that right?"

Suddenly a voice echoed through the train "_We'll be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to school separately_."

Coraline gasped. They were close to the school.

"Oh yeah" Teddy spoke up, "Got to dress for the occasion." He closed his eyes and held his breath, pushing all the blood into his head as if he was trying to get rid of a head ache, suddenly his hair turned from turquoise to a jet black color.

"Whoa!" Coraline jumped up in her seat. "How'd you do that?" Jan gaped

"I'm a Metamorphmagus." He said calmly as he grinned. "I can transform my appearance at will. My godfather said that my Mum could do it too; it's really funny to see people flip when I change my hair in front of them. I promised Harry that I'd change the color before I got to school."

"So, can you learn to be one?" Coraline asked, wondering if she could learn so that she could make the scars on her legs go away. "Sorry, you have to be born one. She sighed. "_Oh well_," she thought "_I'd feel weird changing my appearance at will anyway, I wish I could choose when to transform though_."

Coraline couldn't help but hold her breath with her friends as they felt the train slowly lean backwards and come to a stop.

They had arrived.

* * *

**Sorry this one took so long. I had to write it over about seven times before I became happy with the result! Man, I've been doing a lot a research on what fits, striving for a "Real" feeling. Let me know what you think! Read and Review!**


	7. The Very, Very Old Hat

**Chapter 7**

**The Very, Very Old Hat**

* * *

**A**fter gathering up the remainder of the candy, the four kids opened the door to their compartment and ran into a line of students till they hopped off the train and on to a small dark platform. Coraline rubbed her shoulders, she had no idea where they were now, and all she knew was that in the distance, where the waning moon glowed down upon the landscape, there were some slopes that looked like mountains. No doubt that it would get very cold in the winter.

"Coraline." Jan tugged at her sleeve and pointed to a bobbing light that was held by a gigantic man with wild hair that seemed to be graying. "Firs' years!" the giant shouted, walking down the platform "Firs' years over here!" the small group inched forward through the cold night air, fog forming from their mouths with each exhale, a small group of kids formed around him and as she joined the crowd he yelled out "Right then! Follow me!" Coraline was forced to move with the crowd where the giant was heading, behind her she saw Billy waving at them as all the older kids with colors on their robes, in blue, yellow, red, and green, go off in a separate direction.

"Teddy?" Coraline tapped him on the shoulder from behind. "Why aren't we going with the rest of the kids?"

"Its tradition" he explained as they began to go down a very steep slope. "We have to be sorted but before that there's sort of a "Rite of Passage" we have to go through."

Coraline felt her blood go cold. She had heard about ceremonies in native tribes in Africa where the children who enter adulthood go through tasks that were hard to pass and in some tribes, if the child in question couldn't succeed, he would be killed on the spot.

Was this "Rite of Passage" a test? Were they going to be quizzed on their knowledge or would they have to fight something to gain entry to the school? Coraline didn't feel very smart or strong as her feet began to go numb, causing her to almost trip over a branch. She looked up at the moon through the trees with utter loathing. "_If I don't get in_" she thought, thinking that the moon could hear her "_it'll all be YOUR fault_."

"Coraline! Look!" Jan tugged her shoulder again as they rounded a bend, she heard a chorus of "Oooooooh!"'s and she joined with them in awe.

Like a river to the sea, the group came out of the path and to a shore where small boats were perched at the edge of a black lake where directly across, in the side of a mountain, was a tall shining castle with many towers and turrets, its windows twinkling like stars among the real stars that gleamed in the night sky with the moon. The water below it seemed to create the image of a castle in the sky, not a single ripple to distort it.

"No more'n four to a boat!" the giant yelled, getting into a boat that was placed in the middle of the line. Coraline and Jan got into a boat close to him and were quickly accompanied by Teddy and Jim, who were still keeping their eyes on the castle in awe and wonder.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Jan asked Teddy "I thought you were a Wizard with a wizarding family. Surly at least one of them told you what Hogwarts looked like."

"No" Teddy shook his head "They said they didn't want to ruin the surprise. For ages I thought it was just because they didn't like it. Now I see why they didn't tell me."

"Yeah" Coraline looked back up at the castle "I never would have expected it to be a castle! I thought it would just be a regular school. Finding out this way is WAY better!"

"FORWARD!" the giant cried and suddenly the boats began to sail across the water towards the castle in a formation that birds took when they flew, the giant being at the front, Coraline's boat just to his left. With each breath that came and went, the towers seemed to grow like ivy and soon it loomed over them, eclipsing the light of the moon from Coraline's already pale face.

"Head's down!" the giant cried again, she did as was told of her and felt the top of her head brush something away, she looked behind her as it passed to see that it was a curtain of vines that hung from a door way and into a grotto that Coraline guessed was under the castle.

The boat scraped the shore and the students rose out of them and on to a rocky shore. The giant waited with his lamp for them all to accumulate and Coraline was able to see the path he stood on, and he began to walk through a large rock tunnel.

Coraline wasn't afraid of the dark, nor was she afraid of small spaces. But the dark tunnel, that seemed to warm up as the bodies of her fellow students clambered together, reminded her of something from the book that she was named after. A long dark hallway, that seemed to be alive, with a monster just waiting for little children like her to come to her web like a spider with flies. Children to feed off of, to trick, lure, then to eat their lives and trap their very soul as if they were some old toy that it didn't want anymore.

_The Beldam_

Coraline hung on to Jan's shoulder very tightly as the breaths of the children echoed off the stone walls that she could barely see, making the passage truly seem like the one in the book. Although she loved that story, she couldn't help but be afraid for a moment that the Beldam maybe waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. She shook it off and told herself that she was imagining things and that the Beldam wasn't real. But magic was real, so were werewolves like her, and so maybe there was a chance that…it did exist. Maybe not at the end of the tunnel…But somewhere out there, there was a chance that it was real, waiting for her.

Coraline breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the tunnel and entered a court yard; the moon gave light on the stone steps the giant was walking towards where a pair of big double doors awaited them. She relaxed her grip on Jan's shoulder.

"What's the matter Coraline?" she asked, whispering as they neared the steps. "Oh, it's nothing really." She replied "It's just…that tunnel reminded me of something…oh never mind I'll tell you later." She said as they arrived at the Oak doors at the top of the steps, all of the kids behind the Giant.

"Everyone here?" he asked. With no reply he turned around to the doors and knocked three times on them with his gigantic fist. At once, the doors opened to light so bright that Coraline had to put her hand in front of her eyes to avoid being blinded.

"The firs' years, Professor Flitwick." Coraline heard the giant say. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a huge entrance hall that could fit a jet-liner into it. Stone pedestals that served as torches with owls on them and a pattern on the floor with many different colors on it. But there was no one she could see.

"Thank you, Hagrid." She heard a small voice come from the door, Coraline and Jan both leaned over Teddy's shoulder to see a very small, bearded man in the door way. It looked strange to see someone as small as he with the giant the "Professor" called "Hagrid". "Follow me please" Professor Flitwick said in his cheerful voice as the doors opened wide enough for the group to move pass Hagrid and into the entrance hall.

On the inside, the hall looked much more impressive. Marble staircases and paintings that smiled as they looked down on them, following the small man across the sparkling clean room (Save for one strange window that was roped off that seemed to have a swamp underneath it.). Coraline and Jan moved to walk next to Jim and Teddy, looking around the hall.

As Coraline reached the bottom step of the staircase, on the farthest right, a huge BANG was heard from behind her. Zings and wind blew past from behind; she turned around to see what was going on and saw something very odd.

For a moment, she saw something less than a shadow but more of a fog of something, but after that second there was nothing there but the flickering flames and the portraits all had gone quiet.

Coraline stood there, looking back at the hall; she swore she heard something, it was as clear as bell to her. She had heard shouts and spells of something like "_Stupefy_", "_Protego_" and "_Expelliarmus_", cries and screams of many voices. A chill ran up her spine as she recalled her split-second vision of bleeding or dead bodies that littered the floor, and a man right where she stood that seemed to be falling to the ground.

Or was she seeing things? Was it just plain stress over the sorting, the exhaustion of the full moon or the sugar that was giving her energy that was making her see things?

"Coraline!" Coraline snapped out of her trance where she stood and looked up at Jan, they were alone on the stair case and Teddy just rounded the corner along with the rest of the group. Coraline took one last glance at the empty stone entrance hall before running up the stairs to catch up with the class.

It was obvious to Coraline that no one else saw or heard what she did. If they had, they would have stopped, someone at least would have yelped a little or turned around but they kept going, leaving her to memorize the brief phenomenon she had witnessed herself. As they walked through the halls, the class looking at the portraits as they waved to the new class, she kept her eyes on the floor, lost in thought.

No one else had heard it or seen it, it would be strange to ask if something like a battle ever happened at the school because then she would have to explain what she saw. If she was wrong then she would be embarrassed of hallucinating and cause distrust in some people as to if they could rely on her information, if she was right (And she really hoped she wasn't), then there was the strange matter of HOW she saw that and why only her? Maybe she had some strange power that made her special like how her mother said that some wizarding families could carry a trait that could for example let them see into the future, or maybe it was something about being a werewolf that heightened her senses.

"Coraline?" Jim spoke, Coraline's head snapped up from looking at the ground to looking at him on her right. "Are you feeling alright? You look like you just seen the Grim."

"The Grim?" she asked.

"Oh…um…I think the term Muggles use is "You look like you've seen a ghost." Is that right?"

Coraline leaned in and whispered in his ear. "To be honest, I think I just DID."

"Is that all?" he said, a smile creeping up on his face "It's nothing special, Hogwarts has loads of ghosts."

Jan quickly turned to Jim, her eyes wide and her breaths increased, "Ghosts?" she trembled "as in "REAL" ghosts?"

Jim and Teddy both suppressed a laugh, "They're not the kind of ghost you're use to hearing about." They reassured as they started to walk up another flight of stairs, lagging behind the rest of the group. "They're all really nice here; four of them are the resident house ghosts, the rest are just here for kicks."

"The one you have to watch out for is Peeves." Teddy's eyes turned from amber to gray with that comment. "I heard that he's the resident poltergeist and causes a lot of havoc for both students and teachers alike. The only people he's ever taken orders from where the Weasley brothers, Fred and George, when a tyrant took over the school and they flew off on their brooms after turning the entrance hall into a swamp. They told them to give hell for them and ever since then, even though the school's free, he's gotten worse. Only the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron can control him."

Teddy's eyes turned back to amber as he suddenly smiled "Though I did hear once, when my Dad was teaching here, that he made a wad of chewing gum Peeves put in a keyhole to shoot up his nose. I don't think Peeves was seen until next year after my Dad resigned from the job."

"What was the spell?" Coraline asked, not wanting to be caught off guard by the poltergeist "Don't know." Teddy shrugged "If any of my relatives know, they're not telling me. I wish I could ask him though; I'd hate to be shooting off spells at the little howler and having them go right through him. I'd rather have a spell that works."

The others nodded in agreement as the professor suddenly filed into a small room just a little ways away from two big doors that Coraline could hear with her advanced hearing, hundreds of voices beyond them. The room was very small and windowless, not a single object made the room look used save for this one purpose of holding people. They crowded together, brushing the shoulders as they stood in the room but because there were so few of them they at least had room to stretch and move around. Though Coraline was near the back with her friends, a gasp rang through the room and Coraline had the feeling that Flitwick had just made a chair or something appear because she could see him over the heads of her classmates.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He cried with a smile on his face "The start of term banquet will be starting shortly but first, you must be sorted into your houses. The sorting ceremony is very important to us because, while you learn and live here your house will be like your family. Your house will have its own dormitory, you will go to class with your housemates and you will spend your free time in your house's common room."

He paused, letting the information sink in to the students. Coraline leaned over to Jan and asked "What's a Dormitory and what's a Common room"?" Before Jan could answer, Flitwick started talking again.

"Each house has its own noble history and has been called home to many witches and wizards in its thousand year history." He said"The houses are called "Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. While you are here, your successes will earn your house points, while breaking the rules will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the house cup, a very great honor that I hope you will excel towards."

Coraline shifted the weight of her body and Jan began to chew her lip again. Teddy and Jim both seemed to become friends because they looked at each other before smirking and then turned back to the tiny professor as he scanned the class.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in front of the school shortly. I'll leave you to get better acquainted with your schoolmates while I see if they are ready for us." He seemed to hop off of something and in a few seconds there was another gasp before he ran around the students and through the door where they came from.

The voices of the kids erupted from the once silent room. Talking amongst themselves with their own friends they had met on the train, Coraline spotted Victor and Emily with a group of other equally venomous looking children, huddled together like a nest of snakes, ready to strike at the first outsider that passed by.

"Hey Teddy." Jan said "Do you know how they'll sort us? Is it like picking teams for football in school or something where we line against a wall and the kids call us over?"

"No" he said "All that we have to do is put on the Sorting Hat, it looks into your mind and sees what house will be suitable for you. But I heard that if you're REALLY nice, it will let you choose."

Coraline heart quickened in pace. The hat would look into her mind and see what qualities she had. What if it could talk and tell everyone that she was a werewolf? She looked at Jan before turning back to the floor where her shoes were. What would Jan say after the hat yelled out that she was a monster, she already was close to loosening her once today, and she didn't want to go through that again.

"Hey, Teddy." Coraline tried her best to keep her voice sounding normal and calm as oppose to nervous and afraid. "Does the hat talk? I mean, having the power to look at your mind, isn't it scary to have something do that?"

"Yeah it talks." He said "But it only really sings a song at the beginning about the houses and yells out the name of the house when it's on someone's head. It's not rude, Godric Gryffindor, the founder of the Gryffindor house made that hat. Though if it was made by Slytherin's founder it probably would."

Coraline sighed for what must have been the millionth time that day. She was now determined to NOT go into Slytherin. First she didn't like Jim's cousins and if they were placed in the same house, she was sure that ether she or one of them would be dead before they graduated. Second, Coraline couldn't help but notice the snake references to the house. Even the name Slytherin reminded her of a long scaly snake she had once seen at a zoo back in America, slither on its belly in the caged exhibit.

Next to the Beldam, snakes were another thing she was deathly afraid of. If she had to tell the whole school she was a werewolf to NOT be in Slytherin, she would do it. She would be friends with one if they were nice enough but if she was put in Slytherin…She shivered at the realization that there was nothing she could do if she was.

"Hey, I thought Voldemort burned the Sorting Hat." A brown headed girl turned to Teddy with a puzzled look "He did." Teddy said "But that thing's pretty indestructible, you can't just burn it and think it won't grow back. You'd have to be a really powerful Sorcerer to destroy the kind of magic it's protected with."

"Isn't a wizard and a sorcerer the same thing?" Coraline asked.

"No." Jim replied"Wizardry is mostly for spells with a wand, that can make things re-appear or move. Sorcery is a mystery and only a few people in the world can study it. There's only about five in the world I think, and they're all too old to really do anything at this point. They live up in mountains and in enchanted forests where they do stuff we're not suppose to know about. It's like we're the Muggles and they're the wizards, they have their own community and stuff that we can't get involved into. Not that there's much going on to get involved in right now."

"How do you know?" Jan asked. "They could just be lying to you just like we hide from the Muggles. What if there's something going on and we don't have a clue that it's happening?"

"How can something be going on with only five of them?" Coraline opened her mouth to say something she wasn't quite sure of when the doors opened again, everyone turned around to see Flitwick in the doorway. "Ok, form a single file line now!" They fell into place, being closest to the door; she found herself being first in line with Jan, Jim, and Teddy falling behind her. She looked down at the small teacher and looked straight into his brown eyes. He mouthed something to her that only she saw. After a moment thinking about it, she realized he said "_Are you feeling well?_"

Coraline mouthed back, trying not to attract to much attention "_I am a little nervous._"

The man nodded quickly before mouthing "_Everything will be fine Coraline. Do not worry._" And as if the conversation never happened, he turned around and squeaked cheerfully "Follow me!" to the first years, but because of the private conversation it sounded like he was talking to her and no one else. As they neared two very large double doors, they opened.

Coraline had read the book her Dad got her, "_Hogwarts: A History_" and she had read about how the great hall, the dining room that is, had a ceiling that was enchanted to look like the night sky. But when the doors opened and she looked up, she was blown away. She had pictured it to be like the Sistine Chapel that Michelangelo painted, something that didn't look TOO real but what she was staring at made her actually believe it to open up to the heavens and she would have continued to think that if she hadn't read the book. The way the book said it made it sound like the founders got too lazy to paint it and just used their wands, but had she written the book she would have said "_Enchanted to SIMULATE the sky._" Stars and all. She could even see the not-quite full moon over head as they entered.

It made her feel odd to have everyone follow her through the large double doors, if someone saw them at an angle, she was sure that it would look like Flitwick wasn't there at all and they were all following her like in "_follow the leader_".

The hall had thousands of floating candles and had five, long wooden tables that ran the length of the room, giving the first years a straight path to the front of the room where the fifth table surveyed the tables in which the students sat at their own house tables. That table had only adults placed at it and the two rows she passed through had students trimmed with blue on her left and students trimmed with yellow on her right. She spotted Billy at the far end of the table, waving to them. Coraline smiled as she passed him and found Flitwick had stopped in front of the oldest hat she had ever seen which was placed on a four legged stool just in front of the teacher's table.

There was silence for a minute, Coraline wondered what was supposed to happen and wished they would hurry it up because she felt weird being at the front when she remembered Teddy saying something about it singing. No sooner had she remembered that, it twitched, a mouth formed near its brim and it began to sing.

**"_O' have eleven years have truly passed_**

_**Since the war was put to end?**_

_**For here I see some the children**_

_**Of that time with empty heads**_

_**The small miracles that were born**_

_**Into a world of fearful war**_

_**Have come of age at last and are now**_

_**Needing to learn more.**_

_**What house shall you belong in?**_

_**Well that's my job you see**_

_**What lies within that mind of yours?**_

_**I'll tell you where you'll be.**_

_**The Hufflepuffs are for the loyal**_

_**The rules are their true guide**_

_**The judgment of the rights and wrongs**_

_**To see with their own eyes.**_

_**The Gryffindor boasts the brave**_

_**The reckless and the bold**_

_**To never abandon one another**_

_**Through the years that go.**_

_**Those determined go to Slytherin**_

_**The stubborn ones won't do you see**_

_**They meet their goals if it means their life**_

_**Or so it seems to me.**_

_**The Ravenclaws are smart no doubt**_

_**Much wisdom fills their mind**_

_**The ego tends to grow here though**_

_**Showing in due time.**_

_**So what do you think, dear children?**_

_**Are you ready to try me on?**_

_**You're not? Too bad, for this next line**_

_**Thus ends the Sorting song!"**_

The hall broke into applause and Coraline joined in, only half-heartedly. She felt like she didn't apply to anything the hat mentioned, was there a "_none of the above_" house? She wondered as Flitwick conjured up a stool next to the one the hat rested on. He hopped on and with a tap of his wand; the stool grew to be about a foot taller than she was. He motioned his wand again and a scroll appeared in his hand.

The wizard waited and the hall went quiet. "When I call your name" he said, looking down at the first years. "You will come forward, put the hat on and sit to be sorted."

"Burox, Riley!" He shouted, Coraline moved to the side to let a black haired boy through. He put the hat over his eyes and sat a moment in silence. Then-

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat had shouted.

Applause and cheers burst from the table on their right, everyone at the table wore blue trimmed robes. Riley shrugged and put the hat back on the stool to go join with his housemates.

"Carr, Jason!" another boy, this time with brown hair, pushed pass her and placed the hat on his head, a moment's pause, then-

"SLYTHERIN!"

He took off the hat, looking a bit mortified as the table on the far right "Whooped" and cheered for their new Slytherin. Coraline looked at the Slytherins and her heart gave an unpleasant jolt as she saw that every single one of them had pale skin like her. Even Jason looked pale; or was that just the shock of being sorted into Slytherin?"

Judy Clark became the first Hufflepuff, the table on Coraline's right cheered as the bushy haired girl skipped towards her table, where she was welcomed with handshakes and pats on the back. There was Gary Davis who became another Hufflepuff, William Devery and Jason Dingle went to Ravenclaw, Jill Ford went to Hufflepuff and Oliver Fry became the first Gryffindor.

The table on the far left cheered and jumped and shot off sparks from their wands and was far the loudest table yet, she suspected that they were worried that they wouldn't have any new kids this year.

Gates went to Slytherin, Hill went to Ravenclaw and after the applause died down, Flitwick yelled "Kirk, James!" Coraline heard some chuckles coming from the students before Jim scooted pass Coraline, giving a worried look back to her. She smiled and gave him thumbs up. He placed the hat over his head and sat down. Coraline held her breath.

"GRYFFINDOR!

The Gryffindor table burst into applause as Jim took the hat off, looking surprised with an open mouth. Coraline looked back to see Victor and Emily near the back of the line, their mouths were open too, their faces turned to show disgust as they watched their cousin run over to the red, clad table. Meanwhile, Billy was cheering for his brother at the Hufflepuff table.

There was quiet and then;

"Lupin, Ted"

Coraline could hear some conversation happening over at the Gryffindor table but it was too soft even for her as she watched Teddy walk, no, casually STROLL towards the hat, he put the hat on. Teddy still had to sit down on the stool when the hat yelled out,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table went wild; they seemed to be doing some sort of a tribal dance. She rolled her eyes as Teddy took the hat off, his hair had turned back to turquoise (Adding gasps to the room) and BOWED. "What a ham!" Jan whispered, Coraline only had time to nod when,

"McCoy, Coraline!"

Jan's eyes went wide and Coraline was sure she had died for a second. All eyes were on her as she slowly inched forward to the hat. She desperately wanted to turn and hide somewhere, she HATED getting attention, but she pressed on towards the hat that Teddy held in his hand. She took that hat and watched Teddy run off to the Gryffindor table. Her scars barely visible thanks to the amount of distance she had.

She put the hat over her head; the faces disappeared as the brim of the hat obstructed her view. She heard a small voice in her ear,

"_Ooooh_!" the hat said "_I haven't seen this in a long time! Such trials that have come and what lies ahead, and yet you continue through life. Such a strong and brave soul for one so young; especially without your Mother._ _Definitely-"_

Her heart raced, everything seemed to move in slow motion, her ears pounded with her blood. The hat yelled out in a single cry that the whole hall could hear:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Coraline shook violently as she took the hat off of her head and looked over to the Gryffindor table where they seemed to be having some sort of party, or at a concert. She couldn't hear the cheers; all that her ears seem to do was repeat the hat's cry over again. She began to breathe easier as she sat down next to Teddy and Jimmy who were smiling and punching their fists in the air in celebration. The cheers died down at last and the sorting resumed.

Brandon Nill went to Slytherin, Christina Pike went to Hufflepuff with Tomas Rogers and Megan Scott became a Ravenclaw.

Finally with only five people left, Flitwick called out for;

"Taylor, Jan!" Jan was shaking almost as badly as Coraline had. She jammed the hat onto her head and waited for a long time until, she repeated over and over "Please please please please!" and held her breath until the cry "GRYFFINDOR!" made her exhale and go wild with her fellow Gryffindors; now including a very happy, and somewhat pale Jan.

Vicky Tomas became a Hufflepuff, a boy called Alvin Wood was donned a Gryffindor and next came Emily Worthing. Coraline glared at her from a distance as she put on the hat and sat down. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat cried out and she handed it off to the last first year student, her brother, Victor, as he too became a Slytherin and followed his sister.

Coraline looked up to the teacher's table. She saw Professor McGonagall at the center as the little wizard took the hat away, she smiled and stood up, and the whole room became silent.

"For those we do not know, welcome, for those we do, welcome back!" she said, her hands clasped together near her heart. "Now before we begin the feast I have a few announcements to go over. We have two new teachers to add to our staff: first is Professor N. Longbottom who has taken over for Professor Sprout and will be the new head of Gryffindor house!" McGonagall turned to a round-faced man who stood up and bowed. He was pale and had black hair on his head. The Gryffindors cheered the louder than any other table.

McGonagall motioned them to settle down and said "Secondly: Due to an unforeseeable event, Professor Brooks has found himself unable to teach here at Hogwarts. Therefore, Professor J. Conwell will take his place as the new Transfiguration teacher!"

On McGonagall's right, a tall woman stood up. Her hair was long and black and she wore blue robes.

Coraline gasped. It was the woman who helped her into Diagon Alley! The very same woman who had told her how to get through the brick wall two weeks ago! She told Jan this as the applause began to die down and before she could give a response the Headmistress began to speak again.

"And Madam Hooch has told me that Quidditch try-outs will begin in two weeks time. Second years and above may try out for their house team. Contact her if you wish to learn more. Now for the rules." She particularly glanced at the Gryffindor table. Coraline noticed two boys just a little down the table with black and brown hair that seemed to laugh at such a thing as "Rules"

"The Forest is, as always, forbidden to students for their own safety. Mr. Filch, our caretaker has asked me to remind students for the thirteenth year that no object from the joke shop "_Weasleys's Wizard Wheezes_" is allowed without approval from him or a professor. No student is allowed out of their dormitory after hours and no student is to practice offensive magic in the corridors or on another student."

McGonagall scanned the room through her glasses; her emerald robes flowed in a nonexistent wind.

"Finally: In response to the violations of school property last year, I must remind all of you that the Whomping Willow is Forbidden to go near." She said in her most serious tone yet. "The Whomping Willow serves a purpose and it continues to serve its purpose as the day it was planted almost half a century ago. And it doesn't help anyone by casting spells at it or trying to deface it. If you are caught within ten feet of it, you will be in far worse trouble then you have ever been in before. You have been warned."

Everyone's face didn't show the slightest amusement. Even Teddy's face had gone straight; Coraline knew that woman meant business and when she said something, she meant it.

"Now" she said, her mood changing drastically, "Let's eat."

At once, Coraline's head snapped to what was once an empty table with nothing but golden silver where. The tables had suddenly been filled with every kind of food celebrated on an American Thanksgiving! Pork, chicken, potatoes, asparagus, and every other thing Coraline could dream of. She had good meals with her Dad, but they were always ether Pasta or microwavable dinners. Before and after the full moon made her crave lots of meat and since it was the day after, the pork and chicken looked VERY appetizing.

She piled her plate with as much meat as she could, at last digging into the food that had magically appeared.

As she ate, she caught conversations of her friends that were talking to older Gryffindors. Teddy was talking to a black haired boy about his hair "I personally like to keep it this color." He said "But my godfather says that it doesn't make a good first impression with the teachers." Meanwhile Jim was talking to the prefect of Gryffindor, a girl with a black braid "My brother's in Hufflepuff, my parents were furious. Just think about what they'll say when they find out I was put in to Gryffindor!""Oh don't worry; we'll be here for you."

"Oh, this is my friend." Jan poked Coraline on her back and she turned to face a very tan boy with black hair only a few years older than she was. "Coraline, this is Gary. He's in third year but he's half and half like you are."

Coraline swallowed what was in her mouth and shook his outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, Coraline." He said in a thick Irish accent. "Nice to meet you too, Gary." She smiled.

"You're an American?" he sounded surprised. "Sort of, I mean, I grew up in America and I only just moved back here in July with my Dad. He got a job offer at the local hospital in London so we moved. I'm very glad we did."

The other students had learned in and listened to her. "So did you ever see the American schools?" Said the Prefect girl. "What are the Quidditch teams like over there?" asked another from the other end of the table. Coraline found herself being the center of attention; even a few of the Ravenclaw's turned around to glance at her. She felt her face blush and the others laughed. "Oh, sorry, Coraline." Gary apologized "You're not use to so many people, are you?" she shook her head.

"Don't worry; you'll get use to it."

Coraline continued to eat as the conversations between her friends and other Gryffindors continued. There was a sudden gasp, she looked up and dropped her chicken leg on the plate with a "CLANG!" as hundreds of transparent, shinning, silver ghosts began to fly around the room. She spotted a man covered in silver blood fly towards the Slytherin table and another one began to fly towards her.

"Hello" it spoke "Welcome to Gryffindor! I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington; resident ghost of Gryffindor house!"

He looked down the table to look for the first years that all were located at the other end. He floated over head, over the food and looked at each face in turn. He stopped at Coraline suddenly as if he had just hit the brakes. She looked up at him and waved, "Hi there, Sir Nicholas!" she cried "I'm Coraline McCoy!"

He shook his head and bowed "A pleasure, young lady."

"I know you!" Teddy nearly sprang up from his seat. "You're Nearly-Headless Nick!"

Sir Nicholas rolled his eyes and looked down at Teddy "I prefer SIR Nicholas, sir." Jan had noticed the ghost too and was about to say something when Nick interrupted. "I can be nearly headless" he said to Jan "like this." He took hold of his left ear and his head fell from his shoulders. A piece of skin sill kept his head attached so without his hand it would have merely hung from his neck. Coraline winced. "How did that happen?"

He put his head back. "It was a botched beheading. The executioner didn't sharpen his ax before taking a swing at me. Because of that I can't join the headless hunt."

"I'm sorry about that-hey look." She pointed at the Bloody Barron "He's got a sword, why don't you ask him to chop off the rest?"

"We've tried that." He said sadly "It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid." He looked down at Coraline with gratitude in trying to help, after a moment he looked back around in a new happy manner "So, new Gryffindors! That's excellent! A bit smaller than most years, but that's to be expected since you were born during the war."

"I don't think I count though," Jan said "I'm Muggleborn."

"Yeah, there are a lot of Muggleborns here this year" Said the prefect girl "that's not a problem it's just that this is the first time they've overpopulated the ones with magical parents. It's just weird."

Soon after that, the food vanished and Desert was served. Coraline wished that she didn't eat that much because she saw many things she would have liked to try like the hot apple pie or the vanilla ice cream but she felt like if she took one more bit she would have exploded.

"So, Coraline." Gary turned to her. "When did you discover that you were a witch?"

Coraline looked at him in confusion. "What he means-"the boy opposite Coraline said, his eyes a dazzling green "is that every witch or wizard shows some kind of magic before they are accepted. Was there a moment where something happened that you couldn't explain as nothing but magic?"

She thought about it. The only moment she could think of was when the werewolf attacked her and she managed to push it back some twenty feet. Other than that, there was only one other moment. "Well…there was this one time where I broke one of my ribs, my Dad put me in bed and told me to rest and the next day it was healed like it never broke before. Other than that, I really can't think of anything…"

"How did you break your rib?" Jan asked.

"I can't really remember…" she said "Probably from climbing a tree and falling out of it. We had a pretty good wooded area to play in but when it gets wet, it gets dangerous." Coraline felt bad not telling Jan that the real reason she broke her rib was because of her first transformation.

A few minutes later, the food vanished with the golden plates, leaving the tables empty and bare. Professor McGonagall stood up, causing the hall to silence.

"Now, I believe that many of us are in need of a good night's rest. Prefects will take the first years to the dormitories, classes start tomorrow at 8 AM, the schedule for your year will be on the house bulletin board, I recommend copying it down to make sure that none of you are late on your first day. And with that, I bid you, good night."

Coraline followed the prefect girl who introduced herself as Roxanne Ives. The six new Gryffindors followed the girl though the crowds of the other students, Jan in front of Coraline and Teddy and Jim behind her, followed Roxanne up the stairs for what seemed like forever. She was so tired, the candles that gave barley any light made her feel even sleepier. If there was just one electric light that would blind her, she would be able to wake up just long enough to stay awake. She began to walk while her head bobbed up and down on her chest, looking down at the edges of Jan's robes.

She nearly tripped as she noticed something odd about them. "Jan your robes!" she pointed, causing the line of Gryffindors to stop. She looked down and saw that the ends of her robes and gone from pure black to having a red trim at the bottom, as did Coraline's. There was even a patch on the left side of her shirt that had the seal of Gryffindor, its colors of red and gold with a lion on it.

"It's ok." Roxanne conformed "Your robes are enchanted to show the color of your house. The hat has some sort of magic that changes the color after it's made its decision. I didn't notice anything for three days."

They resumed climbing upwards. Pass the paintings that waved merrily to the new students and the suits of armor that Coraline could swear were watching her, until finally, on the seventh floor, Roxanne stopped in front of a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress.

"Password?" she asked. She blinked. She never knew the paintings could TALK!

"_Venomous Tentacula_" The portrait swung open to revile a doorway. Each of them walked through and into a round, red, cozy, warm living room complete with a fire place.

After Roxanne showed the girls and boys dormitories were, Coraline and Jan bid Jim and Teddy good night as they went their separate ways up the spiral staircases to a door marked "_First Years_"

They opened the door to view five four-poster beds with red curtains. A window over on the north side showed the lake that glittered with the reflection of the stars. Coraline found her trunk and Wendelin at the foot of the bed that was on the right side of the window, while Jan was on the left.

It was very odd to see that there were no other girls in their year other then themselves.

They were both so sleepy that after getting dressed and letting Wendelin out to lie on another bed in her awkward position, Coraline collapsed at last into peaceful sleep, dreaming of tomorrow's adventures and her Mother's smiling face.

* * *

**7,481 words total and about 3 diffrent versions of this chapter. Please review! I can't make a good story without your comments, suggestions and/or flames! XD BUT I'M SERIOUS!**


	8. The Natural Talent

**Chapter 8**

**The Natural Talent**

* * *

**C**oraline had a hard time getting up the next morning from her warm, cozy, four-poster bed after yesterday's adventure. But Roxanne had woken both she and Jan up from their beds at seven o'clock telling them that she was about to go to the Great Hall and if they didn't want to try and find their own way, they'd get dressed and follow her down with their Charms books. She was reluctant to put on her uniform, she hated the skirt that she had to wear because it showed all her scars and she was even more reluctant to leave her beloved gray hat behind. Since yesterday on the train she hadn't worn it and her red, wavy, hair was starting to get on her nerves.

She asked Jan for one of her hair-ties and instead, put it up in a pony tail. She found she looked odd though with it, all the hair was pulled back and from the front it seemed as if she was a very short haired boy. But she didn't have a choice and followed Jan down into the Common room (Or the Living Room as Coraline knew it) where the four other first year Gryffindors waited for them with Roxanne.

"Morning girls," Teddy's hair was still turquoise but he had parted it so that a bang of his short hair stood up, that particular part had a different color: Red

"I hear you two share a dormitory." Jim said "Of course we share a dormitory; we're girls." Jan rolled her eyes, fixing her hair into a bright golden bun. He shook his head in embarrassment "I meant by yourselves," he corrected "I hear you two have a dormitory to yourselves."

"Well, we are the only two Gryffindor girls in our year." Jan turned to Coraline who looked away quickly to the schedule on the bulletin board.

"You have double potions on Fridays, just to clear up your question, Oliver." Said Roxanne as she moved in front of the small group. "Classes normally run for two hours each but for you lot, on Friday's you'll head down to the dungeons for Potions. Be careful, the Slytherin's have their dormitories down there. I hear they get pretty defensive since it's rumored to have been infiltrated by Gryffindors in the past."

"I wonder how they pulled that off?" wondered Oliver to Alvin as he fixed his glasses.

Roxanne led the way out of the common room and down the grand staircase. She pointed out all the things along the way like a tour guide, Coraline made sure to pay attention to where the classes were but she couldn't remember them all. She was more of a visual person when it came to memory and made a mental note to explore and see for herself where the classes were located during the weekend.

Coraline's mind froze for a second and had she not been in a group she would have stopped dead on the stairs.

Note…Letter…She had to write her Dad a letter!

She started to panic; she had no idea where Wendelin was now that she thought about it. She hadn't seen her since she put her on the train yesterday. What if she had to pick her up but because she never did she was still waiting on the platform? She felt guilty and began to breathe hard about forgetting her owl; where was she? Shouldn't she be up in the tower with her things?

Coraline walked faster to get ahead of Oliver to walk next to Roxanne. "Roxanne?" Coraline asked "I think I have a problem: I haven't seen my owl since yesterday on the train and I-","Oh don't worry" she interrupted "There's an Owlery where all the owls go to sleep and live. But she'll come to you during breakfast in the Great Hall if you've got something to send."

"During Breakfast?" she asked, calming down now that she knew that she was safe.

"You'll find out." Roxanne said with a smile.

The first years finally made it to the ground floor, Jan was talking to Teddy (More like arguing) about the prejudice against the houses ("The Professor for Potions is the Head of Slytherin house. We have double Potions on Fridays! This is not going to end well!""Teddy, if you just stopped that attitude maybe then this house prejudice would stop!").

After a few more turns they reached the Great Hall, the sky was a patchy gray and blue as they sat down at the Gryffindor Table. Coraline had never seen a bigger breakfast in her life. Pancakes, blueberry waffles, toast, orange juice, milk, rolls, tarts and a number of Danishes that looked very tasty. Coraline treated herself to an apple Danish and some orange juice as she took out some parchment and her ink-spitting quill and began to write:

_Dear Dad,_

_Sorry I didn't get the chance to write to you last night, I was so wiped by the time I got to the bedroom that I fell right asleep. The place is amazing! It's a castle! I sleep in a tower! (No Princess jokes Dad, Princess' aren't monsters.)_

_I didn't get sorted into Ravenclaw like Mom did. I got into the same house as Jan and that one kid that almost ran me over at the station, Gryffindor. The animal for this house is a lion and it's got Red and Gold colors, my robes are apparently enchanted and now they have a red trim at the bottom of them, as well as the house crest. You'll see when I come home for Christmas._

_Anyway, about the kid that almost ran me over; his name is Teddy Lupin and he's a Meta-something. Not a "meta-human" but he can change his appearance at will. Last night, there's this "Sorting Hat" that we have to try on to be sorted and when Teddy was called up (he had changed his hair to black on the train) and once he was sorted, he took the hat off and his hair had turned back to blue. What a ham!_

_There's not that many kids in my year. The war that occurred apparently affected the number of kids; we're being called "The Miracle Class" for that._

_This place is huge! I want to explore but I'm a bit apprehensive. There's a ghost here that goes by the name of "Peeves" and he causes a lot of trouble. I haven't met him yet and I hope I never do._

_I love you very much and as soon as I get your letter I'll tell you all about my classes!_

_Love,_

_Coraline_

Coraline put her quill back in her bag and checked out the letter, a screech was heard overhead; a few soft gasps (Including one from her) rippled the room as a hundred owls swooped down and dropped letters and boxes to their respected owners. Coraline knew why Roxanne didn't tell her about this: just like with the castle, it would be more fun to see it and find out for herself.

After a little searching, she spotted Wendelin, she waved at her and no sooner had she caught her attention she started to fly towards her. Coraline quickly took her quill out and wrote "Dad" on the envelope, she held it up in the air; Wendelin snatched it out of her hand with her beak and flew off into the sky through the rafters of the great hall. She awed as she watched her soar.

* * *

Roxanne helped led the way to their first class: History of Magic, which was located in the hallway near the library. What she thought would be an interesting class, since she didn't know anything about wizarding history, became dull after the shock of having their teacher emerge from a chalkboard. Professor Binns was a ghost and had apparently gotten up to teach one day, leaving his body behind: his voice was long, monotone and droning. She though he kind of sounded like "Ben Stine". On the bright side, this gave her the time to write back her Dad before nodding off to Neverland for two hours like the rest of her classmates; happy to know that this boring class would only take place on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

After being woken up, thanks to the bell that came from nowhere yet everywhere, Coraline found that the next class was outside in the greenhouses on the far side of the castle. And with only ten minutes for passing time, the small group of first years was glad to have the older students lead the way out onto the grounds and around the North wing.

Herbology was three times a week (On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays) for second period with Professor Longbottom, the head of Gryffindor house. Coraline found the subject seemed to deal with a lot of plants that recoiled at her every movement. They didn't seem to like her very much but as she quickly found out they didn't seem like anyone save for the Professor that taught the subject. It made taking care of them difficult, especially when it was time to harvest some of them. The Venomous Tentacula, a giant fly trap with teeth, was one that the students didn't dare to go near.

Charms class was third period on Mondays and second on Wednesdays. The Deputy Headmaster Professor Flitwick was the teacher and had to stand on a pile of books in order for the first years to see him properly. Coraline found as he explained the class that Charms was mostly for house hold jobs. For example: one spell allowed the caster to shrink objects down to small sizes so that Coraline would be able to fit her entire trunk into her pocket. She didn't feel like she would like to have her whole seven years dedicated to learning Charms but she promised that she would learn enough to get by.

Midnights on Wednesdays were all the way up in the Astronomy tower for…Astronomy with Professor Sinistra, a very strict woman. They would use their telescopes to see star showers and the constellations to point their direction. Coraline spent most of the class however glancing at the Waning moon, which was slowly deteriorating, while she meanwhile began to feel better.

For first period on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Professor Hays taught them about the Dark arts. The first class was only about explaining about what to expect in years to come.

"This year you'll start off with the basics," Said Professor Hays "simple explanations of what the dark arts are, boring stuff, not a lot of wand work really. Next year we'll go a bit more in depth into the history of the dark arts, great year, after all "_Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it_". No wand work until your third year when you'll be learning how to defend against creatures like Kappas." Coraline found him to be more interested in history then in the Dark Arts, and wondered why he didn't take over for the ghost that drew them to sleep.

Finally for third period on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Professor Conwell, taught Transfiguration. She wore the same blue cloak she wore the day she guided Coraline and her Dad into Diagon Alley, her hair was neatly brushed and her brown eyes glinted. But instead of the carefree and happy look she had on, she bore a stern face when the class sat down. After taking roll she stood at the front of the class.

"Transfiguration" she said, making the whole class sit up straight "is the most difficult branch of magic in the entire wizarding world. It requires both strong mind and body to perform some of the simplest spells and it will be difficult for many of you to grasp this art. Once you have gotten over the first few major huddles however, things should be much easier and if you still are finding it difficult; don't hesitate to ask for help. It could mean your grade."

She turned her desk into a hippo and changed it back to attract the class's attention before having them take difficult notes on wand safety and "_Do's and Do not's_", all the while, a feeling grew in the pit of Coraline's heart. This subject was…interesting but at the same time she didn't want anything to do with it. She couldn't figure it out but there was something that made her unable to focus in class.

On Thursday, their second Transfiguration session, they were given a match and were ordered to try and turn it into a needle.

Coraline could barley bring herself to take out her wand. She didn't know what it was but there was just something that made her quiver in her seat, unable to even _try_ unlike so many of her classmates. Her arms had turned to stone, she just couldn't do it and she didn't know why.

Jan, Jimmy and Teddy seemed to notice this about halfway through the lesson and stopped trying to make the match change color. "Are you alright?" Jan asked, leaning over to look at her progress. "You haven't raised your wand even once."

She tried to find the right words, but they wouldn't come out. She didn't know what was wrong with her; it was just a match and all she had to do was make it thinner, pointier and metal-like. "_What's wrong with me?_" she thought furiously as she watched her friends twirl their wands over the match, expecting it to change. "_I can't do it. I don't even know why!_" she pushed back tears as she slunk into her chair near the back of the classroom, where Professor Conwell couldn't see her.

The only one who showed any progress at the end of the period was Riley Burox from Ravenclaw. He had managed to make the ends go sharp and the match looked shinier as Professor Conwell held it up to the light. He was rewarded with five points to his house and the rest of the class was given homework on the notes they took the other day.

Coraline was more than happy to leave the classroom and run to the familiar dormitory she was beginning to think of as a sanctuary from all the problems in her life.

* * *

Friday was an important day for Coraline; it was the day her Dad finally replied.

_Dear Coraline,_

_Wow, I forgot how bad your handwriting is. You type all the time on the computer, but I guess now all those typing lessons don't really matter anymore. I'm glad to hear that you've made it safely. I never knew that Hogwarts was a castle to be honest; if you can find a way to take a picture I'd very much like it._

_Your Mother said that Gryffindor houses the brave, the reckless and the most loyal of friends. The old Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was in that house! Just like Harry Potter was, I think that you'll go far there, Coraline! As for being one of two girls, you'll tough it out!_

_So how's your first week of your classes? Learn any spells yet? It will really help if you could learn how to clean by just waving your magic wand (Literally! Boy that use to be sarcastic, now I can't use it anymore!). Your Mother liked Defense against the Dark Arts up until her last year because of Umbridge. She personally liked Divination but you won't get to that until your third year._

_I'm sorry that it took so long, but I had to find a good box to put the clothes you forgot in here. Your owl can't carry heavy things, Coraline. I also gave you a little something extra; more than likely, you're going to have to use it throughout your lifetime._

_I miss you every day and I hope you're not pushing yourself like you do at home._

_Love,_

_Dad_

"We just moved in!" Coraline gripped at the part about the box. "How could it be hard to find a small box in a flat FULL of boxes? He's totally helpless without me!" she exclaimed to Jan, who sat across from her, Teddy next to Coraline and Jim next to Jan.

She got up from the table and tried to wipe off the jelly that had exploded from the jelly donut as the box fell from the sky like a farm house on some poor witch. It was a losing battle; the jelly had stained her uniform and her only winter cloak.

"UGGGG!" she groaned.

"Allow me!" said the dark haired boy called "Eric Sanders" he pointed his wand from across the table at her, pronounced "_Scourgify_" and suddenly the jelly vanished as if it had never been there. She thanked Eric and sat back down, lifting the package from her plate. She shook it, nothing rustled or shook: she shook her head. What was she thinking? Her Dad always put too much newspaper in boxes to make sure the object inside wouldn't move around on the journey. But she didn't need to shake it to know what it was.

Her Dad had sent her sewing materials.

"I hate sewing_._" She mumbled, her Dad was constantly trying to get her to sew things. Her Mom was able to use a spell that would do the job and when Coraline did it the Muggle way she got frustrated. The needle was so hard to move and the thread wouldn't hold for very long, in the end it always made it worse than better.

She would have to take a trip back up to the dormitory before class started; she didn't want the materials getting in her way. Coraline tapped Teddy on his shoulder as he dug his teeth into a roll. "Hey, what time is it?"

"About fifteen minutes till." He said with his mouth full.

"Aw, bang it! I wanted to drop this off at the tower before we head down to the dungeons." She especially disliked…no…HATED Emily and Victor. The way they walked by with their noses in the air, acting like they were so "High and Mighty" as they observed that was what ticked her off. They were trying to provoke her into a fight, she just KNEW it.

Today was dangerous; it was the Gryffindors and the Slytherins together for double periods, down in a small windowless room full of caldrons with dangerous potions inside and the Slytherin head to teach. Coraline was joined by the other few first years in descending down into the damp, dark dungeons. She was glad she decided to bring her cloak with her today because she didn't think that it would be that cold until she started going down the last few steps.

The place was dark and lit by torches that lined the walls, she could hear the faint "Drip" of water from somewhere she couldn't see and students with emerald green trimmed robes gave her the coldest glares she had received. They were more like threats than anything else. She made another mental note to go to the library to find a book on spell casting.

Down in the dungeons, in the musty classroom, Coraline found Professor Slughorn to instantly be her least favorite teacher. Not because he was head of the Slytherins but because he acted kind of like a game show host. After taking roll, he stopped to look at the class with a wide smile on his face, before speaking

"Welcome to Potions" The old man said opening his arms "Here in this class, we will study the art of potion brewing. You may ask "What good is learning Potions?" well, consider this: From Saint Mungo's today to the Wiccans of a thousand years past, potions have been brewed to heal injuries and diseases of all kinds. Every ingredient added, every stir, every moment you wait will be building up your own ability to make potions you may one day need."

He paused and glanced right at Coraline, his gaze lingering on her a moment before continuing "Also, by experimenting with your own styles, you may discover a new cure or a potion that works better than one already known to the wizarding world! I taught Harry Potter in his sixth year, thirteen years ago, and I have never seen such brilliance in potion making then he. He even managed to save a fellow students life with by feeding him Bezaor, that's a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and saved the student from poisoning. He still visits me from time to time when he comes to Hogwarts for the little lessons in D.A.D.A, just to see how I'm doing in my old age."

Coraline bit the inside of her cheek. This man reminded her of Mr Strek, a neighbor of hers back in America. He was a High School math teacher but a Basketball coach on the "side". When her Dad worked in the yard, Mr Strek would start talking about how his graduated players had gone on into the major leagues. For ages he would talk about how much he kept in contact with them and was mentioned so many times in speeches. He treated those boys as if they were prizes.

This man acted the exact same way.

If she wanted to learn anything extra, say brewing a certain Wolfbane potion, she would have to pray that her Mom had some talent that had been passed on to her. After taking some more notes, they divided up into partners to brew a simple boil curing potion. Jan and Teddy got placed together, Oliver and Alvin as well. With everyone else paired up, Coraline was left with Jim.

She sighed as she went to get the ingredients. Jim looked a bit apprehensive as to do the project, mumbling about some incident as a child, so she decided to work alone. She expected, as everyone else worked in partners to make a simple boil-curing potion, that alone she would probably poison everyone with her mistakes.

But to her surprise, as Professor Slughorn came over to inspect her progress, she was ACTUALLY good at it!

"Well done Miss McCoy!" he cheered "It seems that you've perfectly concocted the potion before anyone else has!"

Coraline had honestly just spaced out when she began the assignment. She was stunned. He took a bottle from his pocket and put some of the green goop into it. "Everyone will note" he said as he held it up in the dim classroom "how it sticks together even to the glass surface of the bottle. That is a professional's job!" He turned to her, looking at her straight in the eye. "You seem to have a natural talent for potion making! Oh! I see a bright future for you in this delicate art, making potions for the sick and improving the ones that exist and who knows? Maybe one day you may even discover the cure for something like Lycanthropy! An elusive cure that I'm sure will be discovered with your brilliance, Miss McCoy! Ten points for Gryffindor! Absolutely brilliant!"

Coraline was thankful for the praise, but the last thing she wanted was to become another one of his trophies. She looked over at Jan and Teddy, both of them were over their own potion that was still at the half way stage, they looked back at her with wide eyes and slightly open mouths. She sported the same shocked expression and shrugged, saying "_I don't know_!"

She was also a little nervous that someone might have caught on Slughorn's "Lycanthropy" bit. She couldn't believe he said that, even though it was meant as a hopeful outlook, Coraline would have to have a word with him after class.

She watched as Professor Slughorn walked away with the bottle and caught in the corner of her eye, Emily and Victor; they looked beyond furious with themselves. They obviously had wanted praise from their head of house and instead he had praised Coraline. Not only that, but she had shown her talent in a class where the teacher favored the talented, and while she had the talent, they didn't. And they weren't alone. The entire Slytherin house generated an energy that made Coraline step a little closer to the door.

She felt, in all the glares that were aiming at her, somehow in her mind that someone EXTRA, someone she couldn't see was watching her or was present in the room. It was one spot really, just in front of the class where the chalkboard was, it was the IDEA of someone being there. It felt like someone was looking at the open book on Professor Slughorn's desk. It was an odd feeling really. It felt like her eyes had acted like a computer and had frozen up, while her brain seemed to continue registering the presence that someone, a young man, was there.

"Coraline!" Jim waved his hand in front of her eyes. Coraline shook her head and turned back to the blond boy "You were making a really weird face," he said sounding a little awed, "almost like you were in a trance! Are you a Seer?"

"Seer?"

"You know, see the future?"

Coraline thought about it. Nothing, short of the one thing in the Entrance Hall on Sunday, like that had happened to her before. It was probably the atmosphere of the mountains that was causing her to see things, or even the potion vapors! She shook her head and looked back at the spot. Whatever she had NOT seen had vanished and the spot had become bare and empty once more. "No. I just thought I saw something."

In the half an hour that remained, Coraline and Jim watched the other students brew the potion, trying to match up to hers, this desire was the cause of Jason Carr and Stephen Gates to rush putting in the Porcupine quills which resulted in a yellow gas to envelop the two, Professor Slughorn came rushing over, and cleared the smoke to find the two Slytherins sprouting tentacles out of their ears. This ended the class ten minutes early and left the two boys to go find the Hospital Wing. Jan and Teddy walked over to Coraline "How did you do it?" Jan asked grabbing both of her shoulders "What did you do that did that? We only got the potion to be runny and turn lime green, how did you get yours that way?"

Coraline confessed that she spaced out. Teddy went ballistic "You "Spaced out"? He yelled as she packed her book into her book bag. He frowned and leaned over to Jan. "What does "Spaced out" mean?" he heard her whisper with her advanced hearing. "It means Coraline wasn't really thinking about it and just sort of did it." He turned back to her "You "Spaced out"?!" he resumed as if that question never came up. She nodded sheepishly, causing Teddy to rub his temples beneath his turquoise hair, suddenly turning it to Coraline's color. "We worked for ages!" Jan said suddenly. "We really tried, Jim helped you didn't he?" They both turned to the blond who quickly shook his head "I'm afraid of this actually. When I was little I got into a really bad accident and wound up at Saint Mungo's for an intense fever and swelling. Coraline did everything, I just read the book."

"You know what?" Teddy suddenly said "I don't care if you're good at this: I'm just happy that you made the Worthings make that face!" Teddy started laughing; Coraline joined in with the boys and laughed at the thought of their slack-jawed expressions. Jan didn't look too happy.

"Miss McCoy?" Coraline looked over to Professor Slughorn, who was sitting at his desk, her potion still trapped in a bottle, sat on it like a paperweight. "May I speak with you for a moment before you take off?" They looked at each other with puzzling looks; She nodded to the professor and Jan gave one last worried look before heading out the door with the rest of the class. She turned and walked up to the Professor, clutching her book bag at her side.

"That was quite a good job, Miss McCoy." He said as she neared the table "Your first potion looked as if it was done by an expert, I didn't have the pleasure of teaching here while your parents were here, but I probably bet that they were well respected by Severus. Tell me, what are their names?

"Sir," Coraline corrected "My Dad's a Muggle. My Mom went here though."

"Forgive me." He said "I just thought that with that talent, both your parents contributed. What's your Mother's name?"

"Adrian Morgan Bell."

"Bell? I think I knew your grandparents, Miss McCoy!" Coraline blinked, she never knew anything about her grandparents on her Mom's side. The only thing she knew was that both of them went to Hogwarts. "Yes!" he exclaimed "Joseph Bell and Morgan Grayson! Joseph was a bright lad but a bit shy, almost emotionless sometimes. Morgan on the other hand was a true born Gryffindor, loud, eccentric, a troublemaker and when I forced her to work she was one of the best students I had ever had the honor of teaching! I see you've inherited that from her but I see your Grandfather's calm attitude has reached you as well."

Coraline soaked up the information into her mind. Her Grandmother was good at potions too and she was a Gryffindor like she was. She had never met them; they had died before she was born but they had lived long enough to know what she was going to be named. She felt a little more complete on the inside."I don't understand those American schools." He said, rolling his eyes "Throwing out a perfect mind like yours is such a waist! Just because you've got one little problem! To think that there's more witches like you there with nowhere else to turn…" he said sadly.

"Oh yeah," She remembered "I really didn't feel comfortable when you put in that "Lycanthropy" part." She said in her politest voice "I don't want anyone to find out and if people start to think…" she trailed off. But he got the idea. "I am sorry for that comment." He said "I really meant it but I was so ecstatic about your potion that I forgot for a moment. I really do think that you may find a cure if you keep this up. It's only a matter of time."

She smiled.

"While we're on the subject; the reason I need to talk to you is to notify you about the potion you'll be taking."

"_I knew it_." She groaned in her mind. She HATED talking about this.

"The potion is very complex, even with your talents you couldn't hope to brew it until your fifth year I'm afraid. It must be gradually made over a month's period, any mistakes along the way and it becomes useless. It's a tricky thing but it's not like I haven't done it before. I made it once for a friend of mine back during the war, nice fellow really." He looked as if he was about to say something but stopped just in time before it could escape his mouth. Coraline looked back at him waiting for him to finish."Anyway" he continued "You can come down here to drink the potion the week before the full moon. The place where you usually go for your transformations is being repaired right now so we've found a suitable place until it's done. Madam Pomfrey will guide you to it."

"Yeah," She said as she gave off a shiver in the cold dark dungeon "There's a problem though. Someone's bound to notice me; I'm not in Slytherin so my dormitory isn't down here and I don't think there are any clubs to join that are located nearby. Someone's going to find a pattern eventually. What do you think I should do?"

He frowned and considered this.

"I'll have to speak with the headmistress about that." He eventually said to her with a grim face. "I'll let you know when we have something. Now, I think I'm keeping you from your free afternoon. You are excused from homework, Miss McCoy but don't think that gives you the right to act poorly in my class." Another quick nod and Coraline quickly ran out the door, glad to leave the Professor behind. He made her feel off, something about the way he looked at her made her feel like some sort of prize on a game show, or a trophy or something collectible.

Like the Beldam.

She stopped halfway to the stairs. The cold penetrated her cloak with the thought of long fingers, dangling toys and sweets like fishing hooks to catch children with.

* * *

**Ok, Sorry this took so long to post up. Writer's block is hard to push though, tell me what I'm doing wrong, I can't write without some idea that I'm getting things right.**


	9. Homesick

**Chapter 9**

**Homesick**

* * *

**I**n the weeks that followed, Coraline found Hogwarts to be not just amazing, but frustrating too. The sheer size of the castle and its twisting corridors and many vacant classrooms left her in a stupor, it didn't make things any easier that magic also seemed to inhabit the very stone walls that created the school and while Coraline was happy to be in this world of her Mother, she found herself a bit overwhelmed by it all.

"I thought your Mum was a witch." Jan said at breakfast one morning, buttering a piece of toast with one of the golden utensils. "You should be used to all this by now and I'm the one that's supposed to be going loony. Not the other way around."

"Jan," Coraline sighed as she picked at her sausage "the most amount of magic I was ever around was my Mom's private study and I rarely went to the big city with her to get potion materials and junk. This place is just a bit overwhelming."

"I'll have to agree with you on that part. This castle seems to have a mind of its own sometimes and the library isn't any better. Always shifting and reorganizing itself, not to mention the lack of a catalog."

At that moment the owls came from the rafters, after a few weeks it didn't hold any more "awe" and became something trivial, like riding in a car or flipping a switch to turn on a light. Coraline had sent Wendelin the other day and received no mail outside of her Dad and the occasional mix up between her and Jan's letters, so it was a surprise that a tawny brown and white owl descended over the Gryffindor table and dropped a letter right in front osdf her, causing her to jump in surprise.

She looked at it for a moment before picking it up. In black ink with curly penmanship that read out _"Coraline McCoy_", on the envelope. Jan raising an eyebrow in a strange way that almost made Coraline raise an eyebrow herself. "Fascinating." Jan said, fascinated "I thought your Father was all you had."

"He is." She said as she opened the envelope and took out the piece of parchment inside. Upon reading the first sentence however, Coraline quickly folded the note back up and placed it back in the envelope.

"What is it?" Jan asked "Something wrong?"

"No," Coraline said quickly "I just need to go to the bathroom, this-uh-looks like a long letter and I don't think I can hold-never mind, I'll be back." She gathered up her things, tucked the letter into her pocket and walked briskly out the Great Hall, leaving Jan behind.

The note was not long, nor did she have to go to the bathroom but if Jan, who had been looking over her shoulder, had read so much as the first sentence, disaster would have struck.

"_Why don't Wizards put return addresses on their envelopes like Muggles do?" _Thought Coraline angrily as she walked up the entrance hall staircase to the first floor, knowing who sent the letter first would have been helpful. "_But NOOOOOOO! Wizards HAVE to be COMPLICATED!"_

She opened the door to an empty classroom she had found during her first weekend in her search for a quiet place to be alone. She had also found a little nook in the library that was hidden among the bookshelves and had a desk covered in graffiti, but Madam Pince, the librarian had found her and instantly shook her wand in her direction and accused her of being responsible for the desk, she wasn't too comfortable in going back just yet.

With fear of being discovered by another student, she pulled the letter from the envelope hastily and began to read it.

_"Dear Miss McCoy,_

_I am happy to inform you that the Wolfbane Potion is a success and is ready for your use. A proper place for your night has also been arranged and next week I will escort you to your room. I will be waiting every night this week in the Hospital Wing at six o'clock with Madam Pomfrey, your head of house, Professor Longbottom and your potion._

_Remember: YOU MUST TAKE IT EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK, OTHERWISE IT WILL NOT WORK!_

_With that in mind, please be sure to come every night this week at six o'clock. We will be waiting._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Professor H. Slughorn._

Coraline bit the inside of her cheek, not caring that the potion was ready for her or worried about what would happen if she missed a day. No, she was focusing more on Madam Pomfrey's presence.

Madam Pomfrey was the school nurse, whose concern for her was more hazardous, and unwelcome than helpful and appreciated. During the second week of school, when she was writing her Charms essay in Gryffindor Tower, Madam Pomfrey entered the common room, grabbed her, took her to the Hospital wing on the third floor and proceeded to give her a full examination in the middle of the night. She seemed to have taken after McGonagall in her sternness and no-nonsense manner and would not take "_But I feel fine! I don't need to say here for the night!" _for an answer. Now every time Coraline so much as scrapped her knee, Madam Pomfrey would be there in five minutes to examine her in every possible way.

It was really quite embarrassing.

Before she could take anything else, the door suddenly opened and in its entrance stood the creepy caretaker known as Filch, a waxy skin, old, wrinkly man, whose greatest joy was giving students detention when they caused trouble in "his" castle. He and his cat Mrs. Norris, who was his eyes and ears and would report practically anyone as a "Mischief Maker", were always something to be wary of.

As soon as she saw him looking at her with his yellow eyes and teeth, grinning at her in a way that made her shiver, she knew she had gotten on his bad side. She spotted Mrs. Norris, who was busy rubbing against her master's boots that were underneath his long dirty brown coat.

"_Stupid cat._" Coraline's eyes narrowed to it as her suspicion on the tipster landed on the cat. Maybe it was just a classic "Dog VS Cat" thing but there was something about that cat that she didn't like.

"Now what are we doing in here?" He said in a soft menacing voice tinted with a bit of anger "planning some clever joke to pull on someone? Or just nosing around in places where you know you shouldn't?"

She took a deep breath "I was just looking for a place to read my mail." She said as calmly as possible, she hadn't gotten into trouble yet and she didn't want to get on this guys bad side. With her temper rising, she had to be very careful of how she said what she said.

"I've heard better lies." He grumbled.

"Lies?" Coraline questioned "Sir, I'm not lying, I really just-"

"Miscreants like you don't go looking for rooms to read the post unless you got something to hide."

"Sir," her voice was shaking, didn't this guy KNOW like the rest of the staff? "I assure you I wasn't-"

Before she could say another word, he moved towards her and snatched the letter from her hands. "HEY!" she yelled at him "THAT'S MINE! You can't do that!" Filch snarled at her "Afraid I might find your order from the Weasleys, are you?" he asked with a murderous smile, his crooked, revolting yellow teeth facing her.

"Huh?" Now she KNEW they were on different pages.

"Those two gave me plenty of trouble, I won't have-"

"Argus?"

Filch turned around and Coraline looked in the doorway. Like an angel sent to save her, her head of house, Professor Longbottom, stood in the light that flooded into the room. His red robes clean from the dirt of the Herbology Greenhouses.

"What are you doing?" he asked the creepy caretaker. Coraline leaned out from behind Filch, "Professor!" she sighed with relief.

Longbottom blinked "Miss McCoy? What are you doing here?"

She sighed. "I got an owl from Professor Slughorn just a few minutes ago, sir." She began to explain, stepping around Filch and his cat. "The information in it was personal and my friend, Jan, she was…well close by. So I decided to find a private place where I wouldn't be bothered and then HE comes in," she pointed at Filch, who still had her letter in his dirty, greasy hands "accuses me of planning trouble or something, and takes my letter saying that I'm ordering something from the Weasleys! I don't even know what he's talking about."

"I've got to remember to tell Horace not to be so open in his letters." The Professor shook his head and looked at Filch, who was standing idly by, the letter still in his hand. Longbottom looked at him, "Argus, I think we already told you about Coraline McCoy." He said in a soft voice. "The letter isn't an order, now can you give it back to her?"

Filch turned to her and handed her the letter back, reluctantly. "Thanks, Professor" she mumbled to her head of house before rushing out the door.

The look Filch gave her sent chills up her spine. There was something about that look, something that she couldn't figure out. Why would he look at her that way? The Slytherins hated her and gave her icy glares on a daily basis. The way he looked at her like that was on a COMPLETELY different level. He didn't just dislike her, he HATED her.

And Coraline had a good idea why.

After all, she wasn't new to the idea of prejudice against people like _her._

* * *

Coraline retreated to the sanctuary of the Gryffindor Common Room. The sky was already darkening at six o'clock and the lake outside the window was sparkling in the sunset. She sat down at the table that faced away from the fireplace and the arm chairs; it was high time she started up her story again. It hadn't been since the beginning of September that she began it and she wanted to make sure she could get out as much as she could before she returned home for Christmas, so she could type it on the computer.

Writing was frustrating in the wizarding world. The ink was un-erasable, messy and the sound of the quill, scratching the parchment was constantly making her brain feel tight with annoyance. What she wouldn't GIVE to have her old pencil and lined paper back in her possession, such wonderful things she wrote with them. Not that anyone else ever saw them but, she enjoyed it and reading them over after she was done was fun.

Setting down her supplies and taking out a bundle of parchments from a sorted place in the bag, she placed them on the table before her. The top page was set up like a book cover, which read

"_The Mystery of the Glassmaker_"

_By C.R McCoy_

She hadn't gotten much down, due to the homework and the ink was terrible to smell, but it was a fair amount and she had just gotten through a writer's block when school started. Draping her robes over the back of the chair, she took her hat from her bag; put her red hair up into it.

She looked around the common room and after deciding it was ok, she rolled up the white sleeves of her uniform.

Coraline hated the uniform because it was far too tight and uncomfortable for her. Above all, the simple fact that she had WHITE sleeves and BLACK runny ink to write with was frustrating and rolling up her sleeves was dangerous because if it wasn't for the sleeves, every single one of her scars could be seen.

She looked down at her arms for a moment, the sunlight hitting her pale, mutilated skin. The remains of full moons past lingered with her and would one day be her undoing. She could cover them up, for now, but what would happen if she began to scratch her face or her hands? She already had one small scar on the brim of her nose, but that was no self-mutilation, that was because the skin kept splitting when the snout was-

She shook her head, "_Stop it."_ She told herself "_No use thinkin' about it when you can't do anything. It'll happen and that's that_." After looking over what she had written last she turned over to a new blank page and began to write.

"_Margaret looked around, never missing a beat as she surveyed the room. The apartment smelled of clothes, erasers and paint, but the weak aroma of gunpowder was still aloft in the air, coming just inches away from where the corpse lay on the blood stained floor. She crouched down and thought to herself, as she saw the horror on the man's face, what was going through his mind in his final moments?_

"_Detective Hall" called a voice loudly from behind; she swiveled on the spot, her long dirty blond hair hitting her shoulders as she turned around and saw a familiar face she knew too well. From his sports cap down to his black Vans, his cocky attitude and smug face at the scene of the crime._

"_Detective Montgomery," she said, without the least bit of humor in her voice. "Didn't know you were on this case too."_

_Montgomery shrugged "I-"_

"Do you see NOW, Jan?" cried an annoying voice from the world of reality. Coraline groaned; she was just getting started.

"I still don't think it means anything." The blond girl said as she stepped into the common room with Jim and Teddy following closely behind her. "Doesn't mean anything?!" Teddy exclaimed with a voice that sounded upset.

The blond girl shrugged "I can take a few childish remarks." She walked over to the fireplace and sat down in the armchair in the corner. "You didn't have to hex them."

"Jan, did you hear what they said about you!" Jim yelled. "They called you a "Mudblood", insulted your family!"

"I know," she said calmly, "I heard them."

"Yeah," Teddy said without so much of a second in-between comments "but you DIDN'T hear what they said about my parents."

There was an awkward pause in the room, even Coraline had stopped writing. Not that she could write where there were people in the room.

"You don't want to know what they called them;" Teddy said, breaking the silence "trust me."

"Alright…" Jan clapped her hands together "fine, I will give you BOTH the benefit of the doubt that the Slytherins are rude, rotten, cruel, stubborn, selfish, and self-centered prats."

This received instant applause from her audience who were concerned for her to start with.

"You've finally come to your senses!" Jim cheered, patting her on the back "Maybe now you'll use that brain of yours to come up with some good pranks?"

"Don't be ridiculous; I don't pull pranks, I'm more mature then that!"

"But say, someone REALLY deserved it!" Teddy chimed in, his hair turned to a Gryffindor red.

"I'd get caught!"

"Say you could get away with it though!"

"Go away, Lupin!" Jan said as she began to walk up the steps to the Girl's dormitory. But when the boys tried to follow, the stairs became a slide and they all went tumbling down in a heap.

"Oi! Who charmed the stairs to do that?"

"Ouch! Kirk, get your rear off my back!"

"Wasn't expecting that!"

"CAN YOU GUYS TAKE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE?!"

The three Gryffindors stared at her from their pile. She had been quiet and disconnected from talking for a while, they had never seen her angry before, it scared them.

"I'VE ALREADY HAD A BAD DAY AND I AM TRYING TO DO SOMETHING HERE THAT REQUIRES CONCENTRATION! I CAN'T DO THAT IF YOU THREE ARE YELLING AND GOOFING OFF!"

Coraline slammed her fist on the desk, and after a second longer to glare at them, she turned her head back to her work.

"Someone needs to take a break."

She stopped thinking, and bit down on her lip as Teddy managed to escape from the tumble.

"Excuse me?"

"It's pretty obvious, Coraline." Said the obnoxious voice of Teddy as he collapsed on to the couch, "You've been buried in your homework for two weeks solid." She ignored him and scooted her chair farther away from the desk she was placed at, trying to get comfortable.

"I haven't seen her relax yet ether." Came the sudden voice of Jim, who appeared abruptly next to Teddy "All she ever does is study."

"I'm right here, Kirk." She said slightly annoyed by Jim's presence, turning back to the three with a glare "and I'm not studying right now, I'm writing."

"Writing?" Jan looked over at her friend "Writing what?"

"A Mystery Story." She grumbled, feeling uncomfortable with people asking her about her personal work.

"That's interesting," said Jim, who was right next to her, leaning over her shoulder. "Can I see?" he began to try and move position so he could read what she had.

"No." She leaned forward and placed both of her arms on the parchment so that he wouldn't see her work. There was a quick RIP that sounded off in the Common room and she felt something give way so she could lean forward.

They both looked down. Her winter cloak she had draped on the back of the chair had leaned forward and shifted around, her back was pining it in place but the bottom had ended up on the floor under his foot. Jan got up from her seat and rushed over to her. Jim stepped off the cloak as she picked it up and put her whole hand through an enormous hole just below one of the cloak's pockets.

The four stared at the hole in silence; Coraline couldn't find the right words to say. She didn't have another one and she couldn't get another one until at least Christmas. She wouldn't be able to borrow another one due to the silver in the fastenings.

"Coraline," Jan suddenly looked at the red head with panic, "was that dry yet?"

A new brand of silence settled into the common room as she closed her eyes and groaned. The red head raised both her arms off the parchment, the white sleeves had been covered and drenched in black, runny, smelling ink and the page was ruined.

She sank back in her chair and let out a yell of frustration that made them jump back. In one action she had ripped her cloak, dipped her uniform sleeves in ink and ruined the page she was working on. "_I can't even remember what I wrote!" _She couldn't go up to the dormitory to change because of the stupid stairs; she wanted to be left ALONE.

She took the wet, soggy parchment that had once been the layout of her creativity, crushed it into a ball and threw it towards the fireplace. The wad of inky paper didn't make it that far and ended up rolling onto the carpet right before Teddy's feet. She slammed her head down onto the wooden desk, she wanted to use her arms to cover her, but she couldn't even do that thanks to the ink!

"IS THERE ANY PLACE IN THIS STUPID CASTLE THAT I CAN BE ALONE AND NOT BE BOTHERED?!"

"Coraline," said a sudden voice from Teddy "I think you're cracking." He turned to Jan "Has she gotten ANY rest since school started?"

She thought for a moment "If by "rest" you mean "relaxed" or "taken a break", than, no, she hasn't. Or at least, I don't THINK she has. I've been hanging out with Megan sometimes so I don't know exactly."

"She needs a break." Jim spoke up after realizing she was upset. "She far too stressed to work, no wonder she snapped at us."

"I don't need to "relax"." Coraline said; raising her head off the table, a red mark from where she slammed onto the desk was visible on her forehead. "I WAS relaxed; I just want to be left ALONE!"

"Actually, Coraline, I agree with them." Said Jan very seriously to her, "You haven't taken a break since you came here and that can't be good for you, you don't look well ether."

She groaned; of course she didn't look well. With the combination of the ink, the red spot on her head and the full moon next week, she would be surprised if she looked good. The bags under her eyes had darkened and her skin looked waxy and pale, she trembled slightly as if she were about to faint and she even FELT as if she were going to faint.

"I don't need you to be my doctor, Jan." She said in a low voice, "That's what my Dad is for."

Silence ensured for a moment, Jan took a deep breath for a second before saying with a straight face "Well your father is not here, Coraline. And if you can't take care of yourself than Madam Pomfrey will be more than happy to take his place."

Coraline bit her lip. Like a punch to the gut, Jan had hit home. And in fact it was just that she was missing. Home. Even the word sounded welcome and even the thought of it brought her closer to breaking down in front of her so called "Friends".

What she wouldn't give to hear her Dad's voice. She needed to talk to him, she had sent Wendelin yesterday and she wouldn't get back with a reply for at least three more days. "_There isn't anyone I can trust. If only they understood, if only they could just leave me alone!"_

"Oh sorry, is this a bad time?"

Coraline looked over with everyone else at their fellow first year, Alvin Wood. He looked like he had just been trampled over but had the time of his life, his hair was messed up and his glasses hung loosely on the edge of his nose.

"Yeah, it sort of is, Alvin." Teddy said with an "_Oh, ya THINK?"_ attitude.

"Sorry, I was just wondering if any of you've seen Oliver?"

The boys shrugged and mumbled out their "Sorry, no". Jan turned to the boy however, with the expression of an optimistic idea in mind "its six-thirty, he's probably talking to his family. He usually calls them around this time."

The three wizards tilted their heads, "Calls them?" Teddy asked.

"Don't Wizards have cell phones?"

"What's a cell phone?" Jim asked sincerely before Jan palm smacked her forehead and sighed as she began to explain to the Wizards.

"A cell phone is a portable Muggle device that can allow one to communicate with someone else who owns a phone with the proper…code." She settled on.

"Muggle device? Like an "electronic"?" Alvin asked, almost stunned "I thought those didn't work on the grounds."

She shrugged, "Well, he apparently found a spell that could make it work. It's enchanted now, but it doesn't get great signal-oh…let's just say it can only work in certain areas. You'll probably find him in one of the towers near a window or on a balcony somewhere. Most likely the Astronomy tower or your dorm room."

"Well, I've already looked in the room. Thanks, Jan."

Coraline sat up right.

Oliver had a cell phone.

"Oliver has a WORKING cell phone?" She suddenly asked. They all turned to her; she had been quiet for a while. "A-a REAL working cell phone?"

Jan nodded.

Coraline sighed, thanked Jan, and ran out of the common room.

"If you see him," yelled Alvin after her "tell him I'm looking for him!"

She knew the new number for the apartment; it was Saturday so he would be home early today! If she could just borrow Oliver's cell phone for five minutes- She rounded a corner, down the hall she saw Oliver, looking down at a glowing screen of a flip phone and smiling before placing it back in his pocket.

"Oliver," Coraline was biting the inside of her cheek to make sure she wasn't breaking down crying in front of everyone. "Can I please borrow your phone for a minute?" He looked at her, a bit stunned that she was asking him this very suddenly and out of the blue. "I'm sorry," he said "but my family has a plan and I don't think-"

"Oliver…" She interrupted, holding back the tears was beginning to be a losing battle as she felt her eyes sting, the pressure of her tear ducts opening up. "Please…I-I really need to call my Dad…"

He stood there for a moment, silence, and then he pulled out the electronic device out of his robe pocket, handing it to her. "Make it quick," he said "My parents will be furious if the bill's too high."

She thanked him and ran back to the Gryffindor Tower; the metallic object in the palm of her hand was pulsing with both magic and electricity. She flipped the phone open as it echoed its chime and saw light radiate from it. Electronic light was beginning to calm her; she had been in this world for way too long now.

She turned the corner into the Fat Lady's corridor, "What's wrong my dear?" she asked the crying Gryffindor. "Nothing, I just-never mind…Venomous Tentacula."

Coraline climbed in and raced up into her bedroom, thankful that Jan wasn't present. She closed the door and sat on her bed, closing the curtains for some privacy and punching in the buttons.

She waited, as a ring went off without an answer. She prayed he was there, "Oh PLEASE be home!" she whispered as the second ring went off.

"Hello," said a voice on the other end "McCoy residence."

Coraline sighed with happiness, the rough voice of her father ringing from the other end. "Dad…" She croaked in her voice, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Coraline?" Her Dad asked, sounding shocked. "How the heck? I thought there were no phones at your school."

"I'm borrowing a cell phone from one of my housemates, but I promised I'd give it back in five minutes due to the family plan he's got."

"Are you upset, Coraline?"

"Dad, I can't do this. I'm not fitting in here and I really REALLY miss you, I can't even talk to you in person. It-it just sucks!"

Coraline burst into tears and sobs at this point. She tried to hold them back but they just kept coming down in wet trails down her face.

There was a sigh on the other line. "Coraline. Coraline, listen to me." Her Dad pleaded to her. Just the sound of his voice made her obey; she even managed to calm down a little. "You've dreamt about this for years, it was all you wanted. Now that you're there you can't let anything, any fear, get in your way. You have to go with the flow and just keep going."

She nodded; his voice was comforting and reassuring. "You can do this, Coraline." He said, "You're brave."

"Ok…" she finally said. The pressure behind her eyes finally easing off. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok." He said "I'm actually happy to hear you. Even if you're upset, this place is quiet without you. The letters aren't the same."

"Well," she sniffed "I guess we'll just enjoy each other more when I get back for the Holidays."

"Yeah…"

"I've got to go…I told Oliver five minutes…"

"Alright,"

"I love you, Dad"

There was chatter on the other line, "oh, Tell Teddy and Jan that both their…guardians said "Hi"."

"Teddy too?" Coraline raised an eyebrow "Dad, who are you with?"

"Just the Taylors and Mr. Potter, I mean Harry."

Coraline's jaw dropped. He didn't tell her anything about being acquainted with "Harry".

"I love you, Coraline!" He said on the other end of the line. "Don't stress out."

"Wait, Dad!" But it was too late. He had already hung up.

Coraline didn't want to call back, she had promised Oliver five minutes. But he never mentioned in ANY of his letters being in contact with Teddy's Godfather, Harry Potter.

It was slightly disturbing.

A moment later, the dorm room opened. Coraline took a deep breath, no doubt who it was entering her room now. She closed the phone softly, placed it in the pocket of her robes and opened the curtains to her four-poster bed.

Jan stood still at the doors, she looked angry and upset. She had every right to be. Coraline took in a deep breath and got up off the bed.

"Jan, I'm sorry…" Jan looked back at her friend with a stern look. "I've been really stressed out lately and…I guess a little homesick. I'm not used to being away from Dad…"

She sighed and let her expression fade away, "I'm sorry too, Coraline. I've been sort of homesick too. Getting used to a new world is frustrating but I'll stand by what I said earlier; you've been buried in your homework for too long. Don't you know when to take a break?"

Coraline shrugged. "When my Mom died, I just didn't want to deal with the world…so I used work as a way to forget. It's usually my Dad who would…he would flip my lights off and say "Sherlock, this is your doctor speaking. Get something to eat" when I had skipped too many meals."

Jan frowned, "Well…he's not here, Coraline." She said soberly "One day, it will be all up to you. You can't really depend on him forever, that's just a part of life, no matter what world you live in. You might as well start here; at least here you have people to catch you if you fall."

She blinked. "Wowzers, Jan, that was really wise." She said, surprised of her friend's maturity and perspective on the matter.

She shrugged "I just think of what Spock would say. That sounded logical so I just said it…"

"Who?"

Her friend sighed, shaking her head and making her blond braids shake side to side "Never mind."

* * *

After Coraline apologized to Teddy and Jan, she felt calmer as she walked the familiar staircase to the Third Floor, where the Hospital Wing was. Not better, but calmer. Her Dad was right; she just had to go with the flow and not worry about it too much.

She pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing, reluctantly. A gust of wind flew out from the door and the familiar smell of medicine and all things clean reminded her of her Dad even more, as he kept coming home smelling like a hospital every night. It made her miss him even more.

"Well, don't just stand out there, Miss McCoy." Said Professor Slughorn from just a little ways into the ward, standing with the round faced Professor Longbottom. "Come in!"

Coraline obeyed and closed the door behind her. "Hi, Professor Longbottom." She greeted with a blank face to her head of house. "Hello, Coraline." He replied "are you alright? You look like you've been crying."

She rubbed her eyes. "I have, a little…I'm just Homesick I guess, sir."

"I heard you yelled at your friends." He said with no hint of amusement in his voice. "You apologized to Mr. Lupin and Miss Taylor but what about Mr. Kirk? I thought you were friends?"

Coraline shook her head, "I'm really mad at him right now. He ripped my winter cloak did this" she showed them her ink, stained sleeves, "to my sleeves and made me ruin the mystery story I've been trying to write."

"Jim Kirk?" Professor Slughorn asked with a perplexed expression "He's your potion partner isn't he? I thought you did well together."

"That's enough chatting" came the voice of Madam Pomfrey, who was bustling forward from her office, rushing to Coraline, her wand out of her medical robes.

"Before you give Miss McCoy a checkup, Poppy, can Horace give her the potion?" Longbottom suggested.

"I need to make sure that she'll have no side effects, Neville." She conjured a chair and pushed Coraline into it as she began examining every inch of her. "Checking on a patient before they're introduced to something new is vital to treatment. Some Werewolves can't take the potion and I don't want to kill the girl."

"She's not going to die" Slughorn said slightly annoyed "there hasn't been a single case of that happening."

"But it could happen! It almost happened once, there was a case in Spain when-"

"When the man in question had an allergy to Horpnest Stub; Miss McCoy is not allergic to anything and besides, I don't think you'll get the best results at this point."

Madam Pomfrey shot Professor Slughorn a devil's glare and he quickly looked away to Professor Longbottom, who looked like he was trying his best to stay out of it. She turned to Coraline, who was looked very tired. "Fine, but if she starts having a seizure, I'll make sure you BOTH get MENTAL examinations at St Mungo's."

"Fair enough" Slughorn shrugged and walked over to a side table that had all sorts of medical potions and things that she could only guess what they were used for, but had a distinct and vague feeling that over time, she would have a firsthand experience with what they did; Coraline hopped out of the chair and followed him.

"Now," Slughorn said hesitantly as he handed her a goblet. "I will tell you this is NOT going to taste well."

She discovered, as she looked down into it, that the potion didn't smell at all. It looked like blue sand almost, but as she shook the cup slightly, the potion quickly shifted and had the impression of blue chicken noodle soup without the chicken or the noodles. Professor Longbottom stood nearby; he looked at the potion with raised eyebrows and a grim look on his face.

She looked at Professor Slughorn one more time. ""_Bottom's up_" I believe is the phrase."

Coraline raised the goblet to her mouth and opened it, the liquid pour in-"_**OH MY GOD!"**_

The goblet was empty and Coraline dropped it to the floor with a clang that echoed in the room. She NEEDED to spit it out! "_Tastes awful_" could NOT describe the _**agony**_her taste buds were in. Madam Pomfrey rushed forward and put a hand to her mouth, making it impossible for her to spit it out. "Coraline, you need to swallow it!"

The potion went down her throat in one gulp and as soon as Madam Pomfrey felt it go down, she let go. Coraline opened her mouth and leaned on the nearby bed.

"I-I'm gonna be sick." She fell down on the floor feeling her stomach turn over and over as the potion hit it. "You're going to tear yourself up if you don't hold it in." Professor Slughorn said as Madam Pomfrey and Professor Longbottom picked her up off the floor. "It's hard the first time but it's better than beating yourself up and becoming dangerous don't you agree?"

Coraline looked at them, unable to safely say a word without gagging.

* * *

**I apologize for the wait. College is a real pain and confusing math problems combined with equaling confusing English prompts get me blocked most of the time. This chapter alone has gone through so many changes and re-do's that I fear I may have messed something up. (This chapter alone has taken me six months to fix, I'm serious, and I've got about ten alternate versions of this chapter somewhere in my computer's memory.)**

**I wanna thank my beta, Saru Wolfe for helping me with the (now) existing plot. It's been a long time working out all the bugs but thanks to her, we can finally continue.**

**Also would like to thank a friend of mine, Forgotten by Love, for spell checking. (She hasn't gotten to this chapter yet but I revise chapters often.)**

**Let me know if something is off and I'll fix it.**

**Remember, Lupin's fiftieth birthday is on March Tenth!**


End file.
